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PAUL'S EPISTLE To 
THE PHILIPPIANS 


BY 


NORMAN B. HARRISON, D.D. 
Pastor, Bible Teacher and Evangelist 
Author of 
His Salvation as Set Forth in the Book of Romans 





The Christian’s Joy Book 





CHICAGO 
The Bible Institute Colportage Association 
843-845 North Wells Street 





By the Same Author 


HIS SALVATION 
AS SET FORTH 


IN THE BOOK OF ROMANS 


“This book ought to be on every study table.” 
—Bible Witness. 


160 Pages: Paper, 60c; Cloth, $1.00 


Copyright, 1926, by 


NoRMAN B. HARRISON 


The price of this book is: Paper covers, 50c; cloth covers, 75c 


PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 


CONTENTS 


THE APPROACH 


Page 
The Philippians Message: Its Practical, Historical 

BNE MATA VtiCale A POTOACH uci wis lure’ slavery ru inlaty craigs 7 
CHAPTER I 

Mi fistoes PHO LITE TOE WoltGy se sacle ina Ww doe alecann (Phil. 1) 21 

The Inward Look 

CHAPTER II 

Christ—The Pattern of Life............... (Phil. 2) 35 


The Backward Look 


CHAPTER III 


@hrist—— JT he’ Goal of Lifes. e eo. Gad AIRES p Mee: 
The Onward Look 


CHAPTER IV 


Christ—The All-Sufficiency of Life.......... (Phil. 4) 73 
The Upward Look 


THE APPEAL 
Christ—The Four-Fold Blessing of Life.... (Phil. 1-4) 89 





KEY VERSES 


Phil. 1:21 


“For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” 


Phil. 2:5 


“Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.” 


Phil. 3:13, 14 


“Forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching 
forth unto those things which are before, I press toward 
the goal for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ 
Jesus.” 


Phil. 4:19 


“My God shall supply all your need according to His 
riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” 





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THE APPROACH 
Practical—Historical—Analytical 


Section 1—The Practical Approach 

The Epistle to the Philippians has no doctrines to ex- 

pound. It has no errors to correct; no issues to refute. 
It has a living Christ to introduce and commend to human 
need. Not a Christ disassociated from life’s living, but a 
Christ experienced and proved in the utmost stress of life. 
' Christian doctrine such as one meets in the Epistle to the 
Romans is here transmuted into life and experience. In 
Romans we see the why and how of our salvation—its tech- 
nique; in Philippians we see it at work, put to the test in 
life and action. 

The difference of method and approach is much the same 
as when one studies.a flower. We may take it to the labora- 
tory to examine its structure and cellular secrets under the 
microscope; or we may go into the garden and see it in 
life, growing in simple beauty, exhaling its sweet fragrance. 
Free from scientific concern we see it as it is. It speaks 
to our heart, rather than to our head. Such is the Epistle 
to the Philippians. Yet, as the laboratory knowledge quick- 
ens the eye to detect added beauties in the garden, so the 
one who has mastered the doctrines of Romans will have 
the keener appreciation of Philippians as he detects these 
doctrines transmuted into living experience. 


The Need of Knowing God 

Man today knows something of everything—everything 
but God. Through a multiplication of schools and books, 
of papers and magazines, of mechanical inventions and de- 
vices, the heavens above, the earth beneath, the facts and 
forces at work around us, all things perceivable by the five 
senses, have become matters of universal knowledge. Yet, 
even today, man is still ignorant of God and His Christ. 
True today, as when John first spoke them, are the words, 
“In the midst of you standeth One whom ye know not” 
(John 1:26, R.V.). Men of our day have not seen “the 
light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of 
Jesus Christ” (2 Cor. 4:6). The result is gross ignorance, 
darkness and blindness. 

7 


8 His in Joyous Experience 


There is a remedy for this in the message to the Philip- 
pians. Here is the Christ of God, as found of those who 
trusted Him, as experienced by men like ourselves; lifting, 
strengthening, cheering; proving Himself the greatest boon 
of life. Such experimental knowledge is incontrovertible. 
It is the greatest need of our day. 


Proving Christ Under Test 

Philippians is the furthest removed from theorizing. Paul 
has his feet on the ground all the while. ‘Through years 
of adversities and testings, the stress of which is still upon 
him, he writes of the proven, practical value of Christ to 
the one who has learned to appropriate Him under all cir- 
cumstances. ‘There has been ample occasion for disillusion- 
ing if this faith were mythical or mental; but instead, each 
new tensity of testing but added to his clarity of conviction 
and tenacity of trust. Of purpose Paul was compelled to 
fathom the deepest of waters, that he might prove the worth 
of Christian experience to the very depths and bring the 
findings back to us. What Paul found of Christ, any 
child of God’s grace can prove for himself today. 

The Antidote for False Faith 

Modern unbelief in its varied forms must stand baffled 
and abashed before the Christ of Philippians. Here He is, 
beyond the reach of false theories that would alter His 
person or limit His power; the real Christ, the historic 
Christ, the living Christ of today, built, beyond misrepre- 
sentation, into human experience. 

The life that has possessed itself of such experience is 
safe. It knows the Son of God. It has plumbed spiritual 
reality. By contrast it knows the counterfeit. It will not 
leave the Living Bread for proffered husks. This soul- 
anchorage of experimental certainty is the one safe refuge 
for these perilous, delusive days. 

Many examples could be cited. We give but one that 
comes to us through a ministerial friend. A preacher of 
the Gospel went abroad for further study. He spent some 
years in such institutions and under such instruction as 
have served to undermine the evangelical faith of many. 
Upon his return it was observed that he preached the old 
Gospel of Grace, as the power of God unto salvation, with 
the same fervor and the same fidelity. Asked how this 
came to be, his reply ran somewhat thus: ‘““When a man 


The Approach 9 


has known Christ in His Word, has met Him face to face 
on his knees, has proved Him faithful in his hours of need, 
he cannot turn his back on his Saviour for any modern in- 
fidelity.” 

How many disciples would the cults draw away by their 
vagaries if all had a Pauline experience of Christ, as re- 
flected in his Philippian Epistle? It would make us mod- 
erns a race of spiritual stalwarts; “steadfast, unmovable,” 
“faithful unto death,” like the sainted Polycarp, Bishop of 
Smyrna. Threatened with martyrdom at the age of ninety- 
five, unless he renounced his faith in Christ, Polycarp gave 
as his reply: “Eighty and six years have I served Him, and 
He never did me any injury. How then can I blaspheme 
my King and my Saviour?” With a prayer for his slayers 
he gave up his life for the One whom he had known and 
loved and served. May his spiritual seed increase. 


Section 2—The Historical Approach 
From Prison to Prison: Nevertheless “Rejoice” 

The Philippian Church came to its birth in a prison at 
Philippi. The Philippian Epistle found birth some ten 
years later in a prison at Rome. ‘The intervening years have 
been tense with the vicissitudes of privation and persecution, 
of hardship and suffering. It is this setting of circumstances 
that floods the message of the Epistle with a wealth of 
meaning. What is it that causes one thus circumstanced to 
continually rejoice? And to call on others to rejoice? If 
the Christian faith has in it that which finds normal expres- 
sion in such Christian experience, we may well ask our- 
selves whether our experience measures up to the standard. 
Is ours the real and the genuine? 

By Divine Constraint 

The story of the entrance of the Gospel into Europe is 
one of divine interposition. Read Acts 16:6-12. Man did 
not plan it. His thought was to continue in Asia. But 
they ‘“were forbidden of the Holy Ghost” so to do. They 
attempted to enter another Asiatic province, ‘‘but the Spirit 
suffered them not.” ‘Then appeared ‘‘a man of Macedonia,” 
with a clear call, ““Come over into Macedonia and help us.” 
“And immediately we endeavored to go into Macedonia, 
assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us to preach 
the Gospel unto them.” (The “we” in the narrative indi- 
cates that Luke, the writer, has now joined Paul and Silas.) 


10 His in Joyous Experience 


They were following the Lord. It was His plan and 
undertaking; His, too, was the responsibility. In the Lord’s 
work the prime requisite is that we know we are in His 
ordering. ‘Then He goes before, and we but follow Him. 
Then we can face any and all difficulties, undiscouraged and 
-undismayed. Christian worker, “follower” of the Lord 
Jesus, have you the daily sense of being in His will? Of 
really following His leading? 


Woman’s Place of Prominence @ 

The narration of the Gospel’s beginnings at Philippi 
next calls our attention to the prominence of women in its 
reception. Read Acts 16:13-18. 

1. Certain women met regularly for prayer (13). It 
would seem that the Gospel owed its rooting at Philippi 
to this prayer gathering. Nay, more; the Lord’s calling 
of His messengers into Europe is in response to this prayer. 
Eternity will have a great story to tell of the trophies, down 
through the centuries, won by the fidelity of women in 
prayer. , 

2. Lydia, a business woman from ‘Thyatira in Asia 
Minor, becomes the first convert, the Lord opening her 
heart to His Word (14), and she has the added joy, as 
many another wife and mother since, of seeing her entire 
household become a part of the household of God (15). 

3. A young woman, demon-possessed (16), yet dis- 
cerning the divine nature and saving power of the Gospel 
message (17), is delivered from bondage “in the Name of 
Jesus Christ” (18), 

In keeping with the place taken by women in the plant- 
ing of the Philippian Church is the mention of them in the 
letter. Whereas but one man of Philippi is alluded to, 
namely Clement..two women, Euodias and Syntyche, are 
mentioned by name (4:2), followed by a touching refer- 
. ence to the helpfulness of the women; “Help those women 
which laboured with me in the Gospel” (4:3). All this 
is prophetic of the state of liberty and esteem into which 
the Gospel has brought womankind in Europe and America 
and wherever its message has sounded forth, in contrast to 
her persisting degradation under heathenism. 


Through Persecution and Imprisonment 
Read Acts 16:19-40. ‘The conversion of the damsel, 
through the monetary loss to her masters, occasioned the 


The Approach 11 


arrest of Paul and Silas (19); but it also occasioned the 
experience that is most deeply characteristic of the Philip- 
pian Church and the message concerning Christian experi- 
ence that is now passed on by the a ee through them, 
to all posterity. 


Six noteworthy results are discernible: 


1. Paul and Silas, the evangelists, had opportunity to 
show the temper of the Christian faith while suffering under 
the indignities and physical smartings of their unjust treat- 


ment (19-25). ‘The “many stripes laid upon them” had ° 


left them with bleeding backs. “They were in torture, un- 
able to sleep. At midnight they were heard “‘praying and 
singing praises unto God.” 


It was the turning-point of the cause of Christ in Phil- 
ippi. Had they complained; had they claimed their citizen- 
ship rights and called for their release; had they simply 
failed to overflow with holy joy, how different the story. 
Doubtless no Church would have been established ; perhaps 
no male convert in that city, and a group of women left 
to carry on a prayer meeting. 


2. God heard and heeded, in a remarkable manner, 
attesting His approval of His servants and His pleasure 
in their praises (26). ‘Their preaching of the Gospel was 
confirmed; it was “not in word only, but also in power” 
(1 Thess. 1:5). Hitherto man had been speaking; now 
God has spoken. Just as electricity yields its power to the 
law of a perfect contact, a complete circuit, so the power 
of God manifested itself in response to the spontaneous joy 
and praise of His servants. What this means to Him— 
joy under suffering akin to His own Son’s—we humans 
have yet to learn. So dear to Him is the continual “sacri- 
fice of praise to God,” it should never, under any circum- 
stance, suffer extinction upon the altar of our lips. Read 


Heb. 13:15. 


3. The Jailor was so profoundly impressed that he 
straightway sought the way of salvation (27-34). Note 
the earnest directness of his question, ““‘What must I do 
to_be-saved?” It has voiced the hunger-cry of many thou- 
sands of souls since his day. And the simplicity of the 
apostolic direction, whereby he found peace in his Saviour, 
“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be 


| 


12 His in Joyous Experience 


saved,” has pointed the way for thousands of thousands of 
faltering feet down through the centuries. 

But the promise was more inclusive: ‘“Thou shalt be 
saved, and thy house.” ‘The divine plan and provision is 
“A Lamb for an house” (Exod. 12:3). Thus the word 
of the Lord came savingly to the jailor ‘‘and to all that 
were in his house.” A whole family saved for Christ; 
their life and influence added to His cause at Philippi. 

Was it this midnight experience that assured the first 
Church in Europe? We think so. We have always sur- 
mised that the jailor became its first Elder, and that gath- 
ered around the nucleus of this household, added to that 
of Lydia, many saints were drawn to a like sound faith and 
satisfying experience. 

Query: Have we in our lives that vital something of 
Christ, which the jailor saw in Paul and Silas, to cause 
an unsaved soul to seek and find the Saviour? 

4. The Community, from the rulers down, had a beau- 
tiful demonstration of the quiet confidence and unashamed 
dignity of the Christian life (35-40). These servants of 
Christ are no criminals. Citizens of the earthly realm, as 
well as the heavenly, they have acted within their rights. 
Mistreated, they are now vindicated, before leaving the 
prison and finally departing from the city. 

5. The Church at Philippi received an impress that 
sufficed to turn its life into the channel of deep Christian 
experience and satisfying Christian fellowship. In all the 
galaxy of New Testament Churches this at Philippi is out- 
standing for the manifest exemplification of the grace of 
God in their midst. 

6. The Apostle and the Philippian Church are drawn 
together in a sympathetic bond, strengthening through the 
years. ‘They suffered together at the start; they share each 
other’s sufferings to the end. ‘The Apostle was poor, so 
also were the Philippians; yet out of their poverty, such 
was the tender tie of sympathy, they sent loving help, as did 
no other Church, ‘“‘once and again” (Phil. 4:15,16). 

All this explains much of the personal and experimental 
nature of the Epistle we are studying. 

*“Rejoice”—the Dominant Note 

In reading the Epistle its recurrent note of “Rejoice” 

constantly resounds in the car of the soul. Some eighteen 


The Approach 13 


times it occurs in varying forms. Surely it is the soul of 
our faith sounding out its call to all who follow our blessed 
Lord—Rejoice in the Lord always: again I will say, 
Rejoice.” 

Between that first Philippian prison experience and the 
one now his as he writes from Rome, Paul had undergone 
a series of almost unbelievable severities. They are set 
out before us in 2 Corinthians 11:23-32. One is amazed 
as he reflects upon all this being packed into ten years of 
one man’s life as he went about preaching the Gospel. Were 
this all, where were the joy? Nothing here to produce it! 
But this is far from all. “This is superficial—the mere ex- 
perience ‘‘in the body.” ‘There is another sphere of experi- 
ence—‘“in the Lord.” By a divine paradox what humanly 
spells sorrow and suffering, “in Him” is turned to joy and 
peace. 


It is this experience that Paul is now, in his letter, 
seeking to share with the Philippians, who so sympathetically 
shared his sorrows. 


An Invincible Faith 


If this is the Christian faith, it is invincible. No Roman 
tyrant, no prison cell, no privation, no combination of cir- 
cumstance, can touch or cut off the flow of experience “in 
the Lord.”” While they are doing their worst against His 
servants, He can continue to do for them His best. ‘This 
more than compensates. 


Our Lord Jesus, confronted by the most terrible experi- 
ences of the Cross, while men and Satan were cruelly and 
unjustly plotting against Him, could speak of “My peace” 
(John 14:27) and “My joy” (15:11), as imperishable 
realities He was bequeathing in that very hour to His fol- 
lowers—all because He was Himself “in the Father” 
(14:10), His inexhaustible source of supply. 

So in the early Church: “They departed from the pres- 
ence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy 
to suffer shame for His Name” (Acts 5:41). 

It was this that made the Church invincible in martyr 
days: They gave themselves to death, while their tormentors 
witnessed in them a strange joy and exaltation of spirit. 
They were rejoicing “in the Lord.” 


14 His in Joyous Experience 
Of this the Scriptures often speak. E.g. 


“Count it all joy, my brethren, when ye fall into mani- 
fold temptations; knowing that the proving of your faith 
worketh patience. And let patience have its perfect work, 
that ye may be perfect and entire, lacking in nothing” 
(Jas. 1:2-4, R.V.). 

“Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial 
which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened 
unto you: But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of 
Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, 
ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. If ye be re- 
proached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the 
Spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part 
He is evil spoken of, but on your part He is glorified” 
(1 Pet. 4:12-14). 

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall 
tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or naked- 
ness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For Thy sake 
we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep 
for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more 
than conquerors through Him that loved us. For I am 
persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor 
principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to 
come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall 
be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in 
Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:35-39). 


Section 3—The Analytical Approach 
The Contents Reduced to Chart 


We turn our attention now to the actual contents of 
the Epistle Paul wrote to these Philippians, the background 
of which we have already examined. What is it about? 
What does it seek to say to them, and through them to us? 

Believing that the Holy Spirit has so prompted and 
guided the writing as to give to us a definite deliverance 
upon a theme of vital concern to all followers of Christ, 
we owe it to Him to adopt a mode of approach that will 
best bring to our minds what He Himself had in mind. 
This cannot be accomplished at a glance, nor yet by a 
cursory reading. 


Read; Re-Read; Repeat the Reading 
We wish to insist upon this method. Do not read this 
little treatise until you have treated fairly the Epistle it 
seeks to elucidate. 
First—Read it. Second—Read it again. Third—Repeat 


the reading as frequently as may be possible while engaged 
in the study. 


The Approach 15 


One of the most serious ‘mistakes, a truly fatal one, in 
Bible study, is to suppose that one knows what is in a Scrip- 
ture because he has read it. “The experience of Bible stu- 
dents is entirely to the contrary. Such is the hidden wealth 
of God’s Word that new light breaks forth from its pages 
after years of frequent meditation and familiar acquaintance. 
To have read it is to merely know its structure, its outer 
form of words, what it says on the surface. We say we 
“know” a man upon once meeting him. In reality we 
scarce know him at all, only his form and appearance. 
The wife, after years of intimacy, may truthfully affirm her 
knowledge of him. 


The necessity for re-reading lies in us—to develop a 
capacity for seeing the truth that is there. We had once 
a parishioner who was condemned, for the sake of his eyes, 
to sit for days in the darkened rooms of his home. We 
called to see him. Upon entering, we could see nothing, 
but stumbled our way through the furniture to a chair. 
Our conversation was in the dark. We supposed it would 
continue to be so. Did we not have all the light available? 
But no. After some fifteen or twenty minutes a new light 
suddenly seemed to break. We were amazed. We began 
to see things, and fairly clearly. We now saw the features 
of our friend whose voice we had heard hitherto. It was 
a happy experience, a reward for tarrying in his presence. 

Our spiritual eye is subject to a like adjustment to truth. 
We err grievously when we judge the truth in a portion 
of God’s Word by what we see in a first hurried reading. 
Listen longer to His voice; you'll soon see the face of Him 
who speaks. Read it again—continue to expose the mind, 
the retina of the soul, to its rays of truth. You will see 
more. Note carefully what you see. Repeat, again, and 
again ; and perhaps suddenly, perhaps gradually, a new light 
seems to break, a second sight seems to come. You wonder 
you did not see it before. ‘The book, or portion, is yours; 
you “know’”’ it. 

A suggestion: ‘Time yourself in the reading of Philip- 
pians. How long does it take you? The writer has asked 
this of audiences. Some report, ‘““I'wenty minutes”; others, 
“Only twelve minutes.” The average is about sixteen min- 
utes. Not long to spend, and re-spend, in knowing God’s 
mind on a great Christian theme. Any one can afford 


16 His in Joyous Experience 


that. If they think they cannot they do not deserve the 
Name they bear. 


Three Chief Considerations 

The writer, in following the method here recommended 
—one open to all who can read—was impressed as he read 
and re-read, with three considerations of prime importance 
in grasping the contents: 

1. The Theme. What is it about? Very evidently it 
is not dealing with doctrine—doctrinal discussion is entirely 
lacking. Nor yet with error—there is scarcely any warn- 
ing. Nor is it concerned with unworthy living—the very 
word “sin” is noticeably absent. It is a personal letter 
familiarly presenting the essential elements of vital Chris- 
tian living. Its theme is Christian Experience—what should 
be, and may be, the experience of the believer in the Lord, 
under whatever circumstances. 

2. “Christ” the Divine Source. A further reading calls 
attention to another feature—the prominence of the Lord 
Jesus Christ. Seventy_times in this brief Epistle reference 
is made to Him by name or by pronoun. ‘The teaching is 
clear and striking. Christian Experience is not a thing in 
itself. Christian Experience is a matter of relationship 
to Christ. He is its Source. 

Take two illustrations, of many, from the Epistle: (1) 
The exhortation to ‘Rejoice’; we are not bidden to re- 
joice in or of ourselves, nor in our circumstances, nor apart 
from Him, but in Him—“Rejoice in the Lord.” (2) Chris- 
tian attainment is a matter not of independent effort on 
our part but of entrance into His attainment for us—“That 
I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and 
the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable 
unto His death; if by any means I might attain,” etc. 
(3:10,11). 

In other words, the Christian life is the furthest possible 
from being a mere system of ethics, a question of doing 
right. It is a life that flows from Him and finds its right- 
ness in Him. 

Blind ignorance of this fact has caused many to fatally 
misjudge the Christian faith, and many more to call them- 
selves Christians when they were not at all—merely moral- 
ists, strangers to the living Christ. 

So extremely vital is this that we desire to stress it by 


The Approach 17 


quoting from Masson’s remarkable critique in condemnation 


of Carlyle’s misconception of the Christian faith: 

“Most important under this head, of course, is Car- 
lyle’s attitude towards the Christian religion. Here it is 
necessary that I should be precise. Christianity, as it 
has been professed by all the greatest spirits that have 
really believed in it anywhere on earth through the 
nineteen centuries of its duration, has consisted of two 
things, united but distinguishable—a metaphysic, or 
system of doctrines respecting the relations of God to 
man, and an ethic, or system of instructions for human 
conduct. Now, the essence of Christianity, when it 
offers itself as a supernatural revelation, lies, I hold, 
in its metaphysic. It lies in the belief that at a par- 
ticular time in the history of mankind a miraculous 
shaft of light out of the unseen infinitude struck our 
earth in Judea, revealing to the Jews first, and after- 
wards to the Gentiles, certain things about the Divine 
Being and His procedure with men which men could 
never have found out for themselves, in the form of cer- 
tain definite doctrines or propositions astonishing and 
almost stunning the mere human reason. The ethic 
without this metaphysic may call itself Christianity, 
but is not, I hold, Christianity in any sense worth so 
special a name. To tell men, however earnestly, not 
to tell lies, not to commit fraud, to be temperate, hon- 
est, truthful, merciful, even to be humble, pious and 
God-fearing, is very good gospel; but it did not re- 
quire the events of Judea, as Christian theology inter- 
prets them, to bring that gospel into the world. The 
modern preacher who sermonizes always on the ethic 
and omits the accompanying metaphysic may sophisti- 
cate himself into a belief that he is preaching Chris- 
tianity, but is preaching no such thing. Wherever 
Christianity has been of real effect in the world, and 
has made real way for its own ethic, it has been by 
its metaphysic—that set of doctrines respecting things 
supernatural which was to the Jews a stumbling block 
and to the Greeks foolishness.’’* 

This finding concerning Christ—the central key position 
assigned to Him in the unfolding of the theme—prompts a 
revision of our wording, from “Christian Experience” to 
“Christ in Christian Experience.” 

3. “Mind” the Human Channel. Upon re-reading, 
our attention is arrested by the recurrence of the word 
“mind.” It appears twelve times in the English transla- 
tion, while the Greek student finds it supported by a wealth 
of reference to the inner state or thought-life of man. 


*From “Carlyle, Personally and in His Writings,’ by David Masson, 
pp. 84-86. 


His in Joyous Experience 


18 


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The Approach 19 


It is the human key to Christian Experience. Christian 
Experience flows from Christ as its Source; it flows through 
the mind of man as its Channel. It is experienced through 
the mind yielded to Him. 

Christian psychology contemplates a mind made over— 
“born again’”—made responsive to the mind of God. Think- 
ing with God, we will then act in harmony with Him, and 
consequently with each other—‘like-minded.’’ Only as we 
are “transformed by the renewing of our mind” will we 

“prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will 
of God” (Rom. 12:2). 

This is the grip God wants to get upon us. We cannot 
get into the stream of God’s will and purpose, reflecting 
His likeness, until our minds become the willing channel 
of His thought-currents. 

Chart. See opposite page. 

Let us now begin to form our findings into a Chart, thus 
to visualize and make definite the progress of our study. 
Taking the results of our reading thus far to be the out- 
standing features of the Epistle, we incorporate them into 
the headlines of the chart. 

Next, the Chapter divisions. It is not often the case 
that the chapters mark the natural and logical divisions 
throughout a book, but our reading persuades us that this 
is true of Philippians. So in the next space under the head- 
lines we place the four chapters, ranging across the chart. 


Three Corresponding Questions 


Having found what we conceive to be the main thought- 
currents, we now propose to ourselves three questions bear- 
ing upon them, the answers to which will reveal to us their 
development through the successive chapters. 

1. Since Christ is central to Christian Experience; since 
it grows out of relationship to Him, what is that relation- 
ship? That is, Where is Christ? Where is He pictured 
as being with relationship to us in each succeeding chapter ? 

Any one can answer the question, Where is Christ? He 
is in Heaven (Acts 1:11; Heb. 9:24). But He is also 
here with us, nay, in us (Matt. 28:20; Eph. 3:17). One 
can readily see that these two positions of Christ, heavenly 
and earthly, represent two entirely different relationships 
for us and therefore two very different possibilities and 
aspects of Christian Experience. What Christ does for us 


20 His in Joyous Experience 


because He is dwelling in us is very different from what 
He does for us from Heaven. 

Then there is the historic Christ, the Christ of the Gos- 
pels, He who lived here among us in the past. Likewise, 
the prophetic Christ, He who is to be revealed in the future. 

Here are four aspects of Christ as He relates Himself 
to His followers—within, behind, before, above. As we 
read the Epistle it becomes evident that these four aspects, 
or angles of relationship, determine the varying viewpoint 
of Christ in each of its four chapters. And these four will 
be found to yield for us four phases of Christian Experi- 
ence. ‘They are the four phases essential in the mind of the 
Holy Spirit to the rounding out of Christian character. 
2. <A second question: Since Christ is the Source of 
Christian Experience and He relates Himself to us for this 
purpose in the four aspects above mentioned, What is He 
to us in these successive relationships? What does He 
bring into our lives? Evidently this question, asked of each 
of the four chapters, will bring us into the very heart of 
the teaching. 

3. A third question: Since our Christian Experience 
progresses in terms of a transformed mind, made over by 
relationship to Christ, What mind does He beget in us in 
these successive relationships? ‘This question is the focal- 
point for the definite results we may expect to accrue to us 
in our experience of Christ. 

When we have ranged these three questions down the 
left side of the chart, and added a space for the summing 
up of the Appeal, we have completed the skeleton of our 
chart. 

‘The answers to these questions are to be filled in, chap- 
ter by chapter, as we proceed with our study. 

A Four-Fold Arrangement 

Each chapter will receive a uniform treatment, con- 
sisting of: 

1. Outline. 
2. chart 

3. Note. 

4. Comment. 

We earnestly urge that each chapter be read through, 
thoughtfully and prayerfully, with the Outline, before pro- 
ceeding with the further features of elucidation. 


CHAPTER I 


CHRIST THE LIFE OF LIFE 
The Inward Look 


Outline 
1—The Salutation, 1:1,2. 


a—By Servants of Jesus Christ (la). 

b—To Saints in Christ Jesus (1b). 

c—From God and the Lord Jesus Christ (2). 
Conveying Grace and Peace. 


2—Paul the Pastor, 1:3-11. 


a—His Prayerful Remembrance of Them (past) (3-5). 

b—His Confident Expectation for Them (future) (6). 

c—His Loving Devotion to Them (present) (7, 8). 

d—His Prayer for Their Spiritual Progress (9-11). 
A four-fold petition: a love so discerning (9)— 
that they choose only the excellent (10a)—thus 
being sincere (in character) and without offense 
(in conduct) (10b)—thus made complete in the 
fruitage of righteousness (11). 


3—Paul the Prisoner, 1:12-30. 


His Supreme Concern for the Gospel Outweighs All 
Other Considerations. 
a—He Rejoices that his Bonds have furthered the Gos- 
pel (12-18). 
(1) Giving it Wider Publicity (13). 
(2) Emboldening others to Speak without Fear 
(14 


ie 
(3) Even though with Mixed and Varying Mo- 
tives (15-17). 
(4) Nevertheless Christ is Preached (18). 
b—He is Care-free whether his Imprisonment Issues in 
Life or Death (19-24). 
(1) In either case Christ shall be Magnified 
(19, 20). 
To Live is “Christ” 
(2) ite Die is “To Be with Christ” (21-23) 
(3) While the latter is “Far Better” for him 
(23b), the former is ‘“More Needful” for 
them (24). 
21 


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Christ the Life of Life 23 


c—He is Confident of “Continuing” that he may be 
of Service to them (24-26). 
d—He Exhorts them to Stand Fast in the Face of Suf- 
fering (27-30). 
Chart: Chapter I. See opposite page. 

We are to find and summarize the answer Chapter I 
gives to the three questions set for us in the left-hand col- 
umn of the chart. , 

1—WuereE He Is. This chapter presents Christ as 
WITHIN Us. It is the Inwarp Look. 


Whether Paul speaks of the Philippians’ experience of 
Christ or of his own, the Source of that experience is a 
Christ dwelling within the heart that believes and trusts 
Him. We have a Christ PERSONAL to each one of His 
followers. 


It is in this fact that the doctrine of Romans finds its 
climax—Romans 8. The experience of Philippians begins 
where the doctrine of Romans leaves off. 


Now note carefully: Christ WITHIN is the only place 
where Christian experience can begin. Many say they be- 
lieve in Christ. “They do believe in the Christ of history— 
the Christ of Bethlehem, Galilee and Judea, and Calvary— 
but it is only an HISTORICAL FAITH, just as we believe any 
fact of history. I believe that Caesar lived and wrought, 
but all that I believe of him has never affected or changed 
my life a particle; he is still back yonder in history. So 
it is with historical faith in Christ. He remains outside of 
me, and apart from me—merely an historical personage. 


But when I believe on Him, with a SAVING FAITH, He 
more than saves me; He moves into my life and becomes a 
part of me. This is the beginning of Christian experience. 
There is no substitute. 

Dear reader, do you know this personal Christ? Has 
He come in? And coming in, has He opened this fountain 
of the experience of Himself in your nature? 


“Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give 
him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give 
him shall be IN HIM a well of water springing up into 
everlasting life’ (John 4:14). 

“He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, 
from WITHIN HIM shall flow rivers of living water” 
(John 7:38, R. V.). 


24 His in Joyous Experience 


As this fact unfolds in experience, how wondrously PER- 
SONAL He becomes. Christ is in Heaven; yes. Christ is 
common to all Christians; yes. But—He is mine. He is 
all mine, personal to me. As I kneel in prayer, though a 
thousand others be similarly engaged, I do not share my 
Christ with them, claiming but a thousandth of His thought, 
His time, attention and love. I have it all, undivided. He 
is mine, all mine. Yet this is just as true in the experi- 
ence of the other thousand, if they are truly His. How 
wonderful ! 

2. WHat He Is. There within He is Our Lire. See 
Leal 


In salvation He imparts His life to us—we who were 
“dead in trespasses and sins’; now WE LIVE IN Him. But 
by His indwelling presence He imparts Himself to us; now 
HE LIVES IN us. And that for practical purposes. He 
becomes the Root of our living, and we say with Paul, “It 
is no longer I that live, but Christ that liveth in me” (Gal. 
2:20, R.V.). Life finds a new center, takes on a new 
purpose in its outgoings. It views everything from a new 
focal-point. ‘For to me to live is Christ” (1:21). 

That is Christian experience realized. How is it with 
you, dear reader? Do these words’ of Paul falter upon 
your lips for lack of reality? Let Christ be to you both 
the Source of life and the Center of life’s living and you 
too will soon express your spiritual biography in these self- 
same words. 

3. His Mrinp 1n Us. He lives in us. Then, He thinks 
and wills in us. The result—we have His own temper of 
mind; we are interested in that which interests Him. 

Christ’s supreme interest is THE GosPEL. It is the 
epitome of His incarnation, life, death and present inter- 
cession for its furtherance. 

This mind is perpetuated in Paul. Personal interests, or 
reversals in prison, cannot for one moment dislodge it from 
its dominance of his life. Six times the word “Gospel” 
occurs in the five verses: 5, 7, 12, 17, 27. Still more is 
his thought saturated with it. Nothing can swerve him 
from it. It is not only on his mind; it 1s his mind, even as 
it is the mind of Christ. It should be the mind of every 
Christian. It WILL BE as Christ comes to normal experi- 
ence in us. 


Christ the Life of Life 25 


1—The Salutation, 1:1,2 
Note 


Contrary to his usual custom, Paul does not refer to 
himself as “an apostle,” but only as a “SERVANT OF JESUS 
Curist’ (la). This for three reasons: First, and pri- 
marily, he is joined with Timothy in the salutation (see 
opening words of First and Second Thessalonians for simi- 
lar variation). Second, he has no need to defend or exer- 
cise his apostolic authority with this Church. ‘Third, as 
a servant of Jesus Christ he is at once on common ground 
with his readers; no barrier of position between them; no 
reason why they too, as servants, should not share the 
experience of Christ of which he writes. 


“SAINTS in Curist Jesus at Puitippr’ (1b). A dual 
description that tells the whole story. God’s people LIvE in 
Christ; the relationship is VITAL. “They RESIDE on earth; 
the place is INCIDENTAL. 


This duality is the key to victorious living. “In Me 

. peace. In the world . . . tribulation; but... 

I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). To live in 

the world is to be subject to its vicissitudes, which are 

many. ‘To live in Christ, merely resident in the world, 
is to live in His complete, perpetual victory. 


“In” Christ is the key expression of Ephesians, unlocking 
its lofty teachings. Philippians, following, immediately picks 
up this heavenly note and carries it into the sphere of 
earthly living, ‘‘at’’? Philippi or wherever it be. 


“THE BisHops AND Deacons” (lc). Whatever pur- 
pose prompted their special mention as in no other Church 
Epistle, we are grateful to the Spirit for the knowledge 
that the Philippian Church was fully manned, that it in- 
cluded men found worthy of these official positions. 
“Bishops” is used interchangeably with ‘“‘Elders’ (Cf. Acts 
20:17 with 28 ; 1 Tim. 3:1,2 with 5:17; Tit. 1:5, 6 with 7). 
They, as spiritual ‘Overseers,’ with the Deacons, consti- 
tuted the local officiary. 


“GRACE” AND “PEACE” (2). This is the divine order, 
never the reverse. “There is no peace to a man in his 
natural state. First he must receive the Grace from Go 
that provided salvation and from the Lord Jesus Christ} 
that purchased it; then follows Peace (Eph. 2:4-8, 13-15). | 


26 His in Joyous Experience 


The divine order, logical and chronological, is also the 
experimental. 


Comment 

HUMILITY OF SERVICE VERSUS PRIDE OF POSITION. 
Paul’s first word, styling himself a servant, pushing his 
apostolic position wholly out of sight, opened every heart 
to a cordial reception of his message. If he was a servant, 
how much more should they all be. They would grow in 
Christian grace together. 

“Flesh” ever prides itself in position, thus claiming the 
attention of men, but it is a cheap substitute for spiritual 
power in service. “The Church is languishing under it. 
The parading of position is a covering for the lack of 
power. Let service be the criterion—what changes would 
follow. 

It is thoroughly un-Christian as well as un-Christlike. 
Service is meant to be the Christian criterion of standing: 

“Ye call Me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for 
so I am. If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed 
your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet. For 
I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have 
done to you” (John 13:13-15). See also Matt. 20:26-27. 

And one day, let us note well, the service test will be 
applied, with startling results: 


“But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall 
be first” (Matt. 19:30). 


“His Lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faith- 
ful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I 
will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into 
the joy of thy Lord” (Matt. 25:21). ; 

“Joy” AND ‘““HapPINEss’—aA VITAL DISTINCTION. The 
Christian’s dual sphere of life, ‘‘in Christ Jesus at ai 
involves a paradox of experience. He may have Joy in the 
Lord while utterly lacking in Happiness at (the place of 
his residence). “The paradox rests upon the separateness 
of the two spheres. 

Happiness is external. Etymologically, it is derived from 
“happenings.” So is it practically. If the external happen- 
ings of life suit us, we say we are “happy.” If they shift 
or become uncertain, we are unhappy. It is a miserable 
chameleon existence. Yet it is the lot of all who merely live 
“at” their physical abode. 

Joy is inward. It is “in the Lord’’—in the inner sphere 
of the heart- where He indwells. Its source is spiritual. 





Christ the Life of Life Ad 


Its resources are independent of circumstance. ‘The degree 
of joy is often heightened and accentuated by the adversity 
of circumstance. 

Nor is this accentuation merely subjective or psychologi- 
cal. “Joy in the Lord” is joy from the Lord Himself. He 
pours in His exhaustless joy at the hour of need. It was 
so with Paul and Silas suffering in jail at midnight. It 
was so with thousands of His martyrs, dying in His name, 
their faces lit up with heavenly light. It has been so with 
unknown and uncounted multitudes, plodding on against 
earth’s unequal odds. 

It is not a call to “Endure” under adversity. That is 
the best philosophy the world has to offer. Christianity’s 
call is to “Rejoice.” And it has a Cause, personal and 
precious, adequate to secure this effect for all who live in 
Him. 

This distinction is at the root of the bold, positive asser- 
tion of Romans 8:28, ““We KNow that all things work to- 
gether for good to them that love God.” 

THE CHRISTIAN FAITH IS THE ONLY KNOWN SOLUTION 
FOR THE MISERY OF SHIFTING CIRCUMSTANCE. ITS SECRET 
SPRINGS OF REJOICING ARE ABOVE EARTH'S VICISSITUDES. 
SHAME ON US, CHRISTIAN BROTHERS, IF WE FAIL TO 
RADIATE OUR LoRD’S PERENNIAL JOY. 


2—Paul the Pastor, 1:3-11 
Note ON 
his 


Here is an inspired glimpse of a pastor’s relation to 
people, the more remarkable because Paul had not been 
locally present with them for ten years. 

1. A Pasr REMEMBRANCE (3-5). This embraces (a) 
a thankfulness to God for them; (b) a faithfulness in 
prayer; (c) a joyful petitioning on their behalf; (d) all 
rooted in a continuous fellowship in the Gospel. 

2. A FuTure Expectation (6). A pastor’s confidence 
that, as he works, the Lord works also and will continue 
His work, carrying it to completion, “until the day of 
Jesus Christ.” 

3. A Present Devotion (7,8). He still has them in 
his pastor-heart (7a). The bond is mutual. As for them, 
they are fellow-partakers of all his experiences (7b). As 
for him, he longs for them with a “tender yearning’? more 
than human—that of Jesus Christ in him (8). 


28 His in Joyous Experience 


4. A PRAYER FOR THEIR SPIRITUAL PRoGREsS, athrob 
with warmth and tenderness, embodies his pastoral concern 
for them (9-11). See Outline. 


Comment 

WHEN Does PastTorAL RESPONSIBILITY CEASE? ‘Ten 
years had elapsed since Paul ministered among these people. 
Yet he calls God to witness that in this interval he had not 
only retained his love for them but had never ceased to 
pray for them. What a tribute to the pastoral tie! What 
vitality attaches to it. ‘Ten years separated, yet most truly 
united. 


Have I rightly interpreted my ministerial office? Could 
God intend that spiritual roots, so richly intertwined through 
years of sacred intimacy, should suddenly be uprooted by 
some providential removal, the spiritual ties be severed, 
the prayer responsibility cease? Never. ‘The pastoral office, 
as ordained of God, is perpetual. Its responsibilities know 
no bounds; they reach into eternity. God grant us hearts, 
with Paul, large enough to hold the cumulative congrega- 
tion of the entire span of our ministry, with faithfulness 
to uphold them in prayer to a triumphant end. 


Makino Ministers. Unquestionably these Philippians, 
by their ‘fellowship in the Gospel from the first day until 
now, had contributed to Paul’s spiritual sturdiness and 
stoutness of heart to a degree beyond compute. He prized 
it highly; it was precious to him. But for it he might 
have failed. What their fellowship did for him was bread 
cast upon the waters, now returning to them in the experi- 
mental truths of this Epistle. 


It has ever been so. ‘The writer rejoices to recall the 
many saints to whom he has ministered, whose deep spiritual 
life-currents have constantly flowed into his own soul 
through Christian fellowship, who had the Gospel always 
upon their hearts, who talked freely of the things of Christ, 
who prayed as faithfully for him as he for them. Such are 
a spiritual tonic. ‘They are “the salt” of the present situa- 
tion in the Church. Should a minister be caught by the 
insidious under-currents of thought in our day and drift 
from his Gospel moorings into the ‘‘modern” waters of 
doubt and unbelief, let “the saints in Christ Jesus” devote 
themselves to definite believing prayer, coupled with loving 


Christ the Life of Life 29 


fellowship in spiritual things, and our faithful God will 
bring him back. 

THE CHRISTIAN WoRKER’S CONFIDENCE is that results 
are not limited to his efforts, that as he works Christ works 
too, and will carry the work to completion (6). It is the 
confidence of the sower that, as he scatters his seed, God 
will use soil, sunshine and shower to cause it to spring up 
into an abundant harvest. 


THE SECRET OF PasTORAL Success lies nowhere so 
much as in having his people in his heart (7). Genuine 
love is the price of his success. “The mother pays it in the 
home, and succeeds with her task; he must pay it in his 
parish. ‘Through it the mother finds her abundant com- 
pensations; so must he—and without them any salary is 
poor pay. Love is its own reward. 


THE HEART OF CHRISTIAN CHARACTER—DSINCERITY. 
From Paul’s prayer we select but one word for meditation 
—“‘sincere’ (10). The Greek is a picture-word, occurring 
only here. It means “clear to the light,’ as when one 
holds up a bottle of honey and the light streams through 
unobstructed. Subjected to test it is just what it seems 
to be, genuine through and through. So is the Christian 
with abounding love in the heart (9), cleansed from within 
out, conscious of nothing to conceal, an open book of God’s 
grace. He is just what he appears to be; he appears to be 
just what he is. God give us more through-and-through 
Christians. 

Our word “‘sincere’” tells the same story, though derived 
through the Latin, from the words “sine cere,” meaning 
“without wax.” Its practical derivation was in this way: 
In the making of furniture, wax was used to fill in pitch- 
pockets and conceal imperfections. ‘Thus treated, it looked 
well for sale; but hard usage revealed the covered-up fact— 
it was “‘in-sin-cere,” not without wax. So honest dealers 
came to write upon their wares, “sine cere,’ the assurance 
of genuineness, nothing to conceal. 


Christian, are you living so close to your Lord, in that 
fellowship with Him and fellow-believers wherein His 
blood keeps cleansing from all sin (1 John 1:7), that you 
can write “sincere” over every phase of character and con-} 
duct? 


30 His in Joyous Experience 


3—Paul the Prisoner, 1:12-30 
Note 


The capabilities of the Christian faith to triumph under 
all circumstances come into clear relief in Paul’s account of 
his imprisonment. ‘There is here no suggestion of defeat. 
The body is bound; the spirit is free. 

1. His ArtrrupE Towarp THE GospPEL (12-18). It 
has been furthered (12). “The Good News has had an 
unusual hearing (13). It has been preached more boldly 
(14), even though with a mixture of motives (15-17), yet 
in it all the magnifying of Christ makes His servant re- 
joice (18). 

2. His ArrirupE TowaArp OtHers (15,16). These 
men were envious of Paul and preached in a spirit of envy, 
contention and insincerity, but by it all the servant of Christ 
was unaffected. ‘Great peace have they that love Thy law, 
and nothing shall offend them.” 

3. His AtrirupE Towarp HIMsEtF, throughout this 
narration, is one of self-forgetfulness. It is the priceless 
by-product of absorbing interest in a great Cause. 

4. His ArtirupE Towarp His RELEAsE (19-26). In 
thought of self (19,20a)—-really forgetfulness of self in 
zeal for Christ (20b)—he has no choice between life and 
death (20c). If he lives—to live is Christ (21a). If he 
dies—it is the gain of being with Christ (21b,23b), and the 
prospect arouses in him ‘‘a desire to depart” (23a). 


However, in thought of them, he is left “in a strait 
betwixt the two’’ possible outcomes. As he considers their 
need of him (24), he is moved to confidence that he will 
continue with them for their “furtherance and joy of faith 
(25), causing them to rejoice in Jesus Christ over his com- 
ing to them again (26). 

5. His ExnorTATION TO STEADFASTNESS (27-30). 
“Only’—never mind what happens—the one matter of 
chief moment is, that their “walk as citizens” of the heaven- 
ly state be worthy of the Gospel of Christ (27a), that, 
whatever the Apostle’s lot, he may know of their stead fast- 
ness, striving together as one man—‘in one spirit, with one 
soul” —for the faith of the Gospel” (27b). 

That the Philippians are unterrified in the face of their 
enemies should be a double token: “‘of their perdition, but 
of your salvation” (28). 


Christ the Life of Life 31 


To them is being given the double honor: to believe on 
Him and to suffer for Him (29). And in this they are 
following in the footsteps of the great Apostle (30). 


Note further: At this point in the Exhortation we reach 
the transition to Chapter 2. Through the mind, humbly 
to accept their sufferings, they will also follow in the foot- 
steps of their Lord and Saviour. 

Comment 


ABSORPTION IN A GREAT CAUSE: THE SECRET OF Suc- 
cess. With Paul the Gospel was so much greater than 
himself and so much more absorbing than any or all of 
his interests. Herein lay his success, even in prison. ‘I do 
all things for the Gospel,” we hear him say; and he did. 
What could Caesar’s chains do with such a man? Nothing! 
He is still succeeding. But the man who is half-hearted in 
his purpose—how easily stopped, diverted, discouraged, de- 
feated by circumstance. An Edison succeeds, but not with- 
out the same secret: he works with genuine relish for it, 
without the clock, in utter abandonment. God give us 
more Pauls in His service. 


SELF-FORGETFULNESS AND Victory. The Life of Vic- 
tory, like electricity, has two poles, a negative and a posi- 
tive. ‘The negative pole is Self-Negation. Paul was not 
thinking of himself; hence he resented no ill-treatment, he 
felt no ill-will, he reflected no envy or jealousy. Self did 
not respond. And this, because he had another Center— 
Christ. Christ filled his life. His climax of concern was 
that “Christ shall be magnified.” Christ galvanized his 
life. ‘“‘Not I, but Christ.” Christ the Positive Pole. The 
result: a circuit that nothing can break; a current that noth- 
ing can stop. It is Victory in Christ. 

“T Do Rejoice, YEA, AND WILL Rejoice.” The reali- 
ty of the Christian faith has always demonstrated itself best 
under stress of circumstance. Thousands of Christian pris- 
oners—prisoners only in body—have experienced and ex- 
pressed the same joy. 

The following story of a young Korean Christian, capable 
of duplication many times over from Korea alone, comes 
to us through a friend: 

After the Russo-Japanese war, when Korea fell 


into the possession of Japan, military occupation was 
- assumed, with the usual results of fear and discontent 


32 His in Joyous Experience 


on the one hand, tyranny and contempt on the other, 
and with mutual hatred. 


In the course of time the Japanese Governor was 
assassinated, and his assassination was followed by a 
reign of terror for the Koreans. Every effort was 
made to bring to justice all who had to any slight ex- 
tent shared the guilt, and also all such as could be 
induced, by fair means or foul, to acknowledge sym- 
pathy with the criminals. 

From one school in charge of an American mission- 
ary groups of students were arrested in succession and 
taken to prison where they were examined by torture. 
Not one of the large number so treated failed his Lord 
in the slightest degree during the awful sufferings they 
experienced. 

The youngest lad subjected to the test was only 
twelve years of age. He was suspended by his thumbs, 
with arms behind his back. His back was previously 
cut in stripes deep enough to cause great pain, and 
he was allowed no water or food. This was kept up 
for a whole day and into the night, while soldiers 
ate and drank liberally before him as they gambled 
away the time, stopping occasionally to ask if he was 
ready to confess his crime. ‘The little fellow was al- 
most insane with thirst and pain and, as it neared 
midnight, he cried to the Lord, begging that He would 
not let him fail, that he feared he could not hold out 
after mid-night. Just a few minutes after the cry of 
distress he felt strong, tender hands close over his 
own, his thirst ceased, all suffering left him, and he 
realized the personal presence of his Lord. Shortly 
afterward the soldiers took him down and sent him to 
bed and he was not again molested. His delight in 
the Lord knew no bounds as he told his experiences 
to his beloved missionary teacher, and the joy of the 
Lord continues to be his abiding possession. The mis- 
sionary was able to count on him at all times as a 
faithful witness to his risen Lord. 


Similarly, prisoners in invalided bodies, behind sightless 
eyes or deafened ears, with helpless hands or feet, yet with 
an irrepressible “‘joy in the Lord” overflowing in praise 
and song. But neighbor to them, with everything to be 
desired, Christians in health, with friends and ‘full bodily 
powers; yet with no song, no praise, no joy, but with scarce 
repressed complaint. How do you account for it? ‘The 
only explanation is in the two spheres of life. The one 
is living in circumstance and even the best does not satisfy. 
The other is living “in Christ” and He never fails to satisfy. 
Nay under stress ‘““He giveth more grace,” and there is 


Christ the Life of Life 33 


added “joy.” (Recall again the vital distinction between 
“Happiness” and “Joy,” Chapter I, page 26). 


“To Live Is Curist.” The simplest possible defining 
of the Christian lite. It is not to confess Christ, not to 
be like Christ, not to live for Christ. Not any function, or 
attribute, or accompaniment, or activity of the life. Not 
that, but the life itself—its source, its secret, its essence, its 
soul, its very heart. The life “is Christ.” He is the Life 
of Life. 


In Creation: “All things were made by Him; and with- 
out Him was not anything made that was made. In Him 
was life; and the life was the light of men”? (John 1:3,4). 
In Redemption: “I am come that they might have life, and 
that they might have it more abundantly” (John 10:10). 
In Salvation: “God hath given us eternal life, and this life 
is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that 
hath not the Son of God hath not life’ (1 John 5:11,12). 
In Christian Experience: “No longer I that live, but Christ 
that liveth in me” (Gal. 2:20 R.V.). 


In the working out of Salvation, doctrinally known as 
Sanctification, more popularly as the Life of Fulness, the 
Higher Life, the Spirit-filled Life, call it which we will, 
Christ moves more and more to the central place in the life, 
the actuating, dominating principle, an experience that is ours 
in actuality in proportion as self is denied control—‘‘no 
longer I, but Christ.” Christ is the Life and the life is 
“Christ”; “To me to live is—Christ.” 


pa E Is Garn.””. In such intimate identification with 
Him who 1s Rees “has,” but “is’—-death stands im- 
potent, robbed of reality. We have ‘‘passed out of death 
into Life’—out of death into the Deathless One. ‘To die 
—nothing more than the dissolution of the body—is “to 
depart and be with Christ.’”’ ‘The Apostle’s desire to go 
Home should be instinctive in every believer’s breast; it is 
so “far better.” With us also, the one counter considera- 
tion capable of making us content with continued absence 
from such a Home should be the prospect of further service. 


His in Joyous Experience 


34 


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CHAPTER II 
CHRIST THE PATTERN OF LIFE 


The Backward Look 


With Chapter 2 our viewpoint changes. We are now 
to look Backwarp for the roots’ of Christian living to the 
Life that was lived nineteen hundred years ago; nay, not 
to the Life but to the Mind that actuated that Life, a 
mind that is to be wrought out in us as His followers. 


Outline 
1—Exhortation to One-Mindedness, 2:1-4. 
a—Positive: Qualities to be Cultivated (1,2). 
b—Negative: Qualities to be Avoided (3,4). 
2—Christ Our Example, 2:5-11. 
a—A Pattern of “Mind” (5). 
b—His Humiliation (of Himself) (6-8). 
(1) What He Was—God (6a). 
(2) His Attitude of Giving it up (6b,7a). 
(3) What He Became—Man (7b). 
(4) His Attitude of Humbling Himself to the Death 
of the Cross (8). 
c—His Exaltation (by the Father) (9-11). 
(1) A Name above every Name (9). 
(2) A Name that shall Claim Universal Worship 
(10,11a). 
(3) All to the Glory of the Father (11b). 
3—The Pattern Worked Out in Believers, 2:12-16. 
a—The Power to Realize it—Inwardly (12,13). 
b—The Exhortation to Embody it—Outwardly (14,15). 
c—The Apostle’s Personal Appeal to this end (16). 
4—The Human Example of Christian Leaders, 2:17-30. 
a—Paul Embodying this “Mind” of Christ (17,18). 
b—Timothy Embodying this “Mind” of Christ (19-23). 
In Contrast—the Sad Failure of Others to be 
“Like-Minded” (20,21). 
c—Epaphroditus Embodying this “Mind” of Christ 
(24-30). 
Chart: Chapter 2. See opposite page. 
as 


36 His in Joyous Experience 


We are to find the summary of the teaching of Chapter 
2 by the answers it gives to our three questions: 


1. Wuere Hels. Not Within us as in Chapter 1, but 
BEHIND us. It is the Christ of the Past, the Christ of 
history. ‘This mind which was in Christ” (5), followed 
by further description in the past tense. 


Why dwell upon the Christ of history? Because He is 
the outstanding figure of all time. By His unexampled life 
He challenges every man: ‘“‘What think ye of Christ?” 


Briefly: In His oriciIn, “a root out of a dry ground”; 
that is, incapable of being explained on natural, historical 
grounds. History has no cause to produce Him. He came 
in a dark, impotent hour. ‘His Star” symbolizes, with 
many corroborations, His heavenly origin. In His LIFs- 
WORK, speaking as never man spake, He set forth a standard 
of life unknown to the finest conceptions of any teacher or 
philosopher of any age. “These His teachings are still the 
standard, lofty, unapproached by any other. Yet more— 
having promulgated such a standard, beyond man, He Him- 
self forthwith Livep Ir. He alone! ‘This is amazing! Yet 
more amazing that, after nineteen hundred years of the 
benefit of His teaching and example, not one man has arisen 
to measure up to the standard of this “Man.” 

You call Him merely a man. Nonsense! “Then, judged 
by relativity, we all would be less than men. Let none 
dare to place himself in the class of “‘a man,” if He is but 
a man. 

No, He is more than man. In the FINISH of His life, its 
climax in Death and Resurrection, He rounded out the 
evidence that He is the One promised of God, embodying 
“all things which were written in the law of Moses, and 
in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning Him” 
(Lu. 24:44). 

He is the Saviour of men. Your Saviour, dear reader, 
if in faith you received Him as such (Acts 16:31). ‘Then, 
when thus received, He becomes more, 


2. Wuat HE Is. He is Our Exampte. As His di- 
ciples, learners, followers, we have Him for our Pattern, 
an Example to standardize our living. 


| “For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also 
suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should 
' follow His steps” (1 Pet. 2.21). 


Christ the Pattern of Life ny 


The Greek word for “Example”’ is another picture-word. 
It means “‘copy-head’’; such as appeared in our school-day 
copybooks, at the top of the page, in fine Spencerian. But 
the copybook plan was none too successful, for, while we 
began well with the perfect copy immediately above, as our 
lines increased we left the copy-head out of the range of 
influence and fell to following our own imperfections. 

This is the Christian’s great mistake. “Today he repeats 
the imperfect self of yesterday, or copies some fellow- 
Christian, when he should go daily back to his God-given 
Copy-Head in whom is all perfection. 

But now, what is the special feature characteristic of our 
Copy-Head that we are asked to note and follow? We 
must read carefully the context in Peter: 

“For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward 
God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. For what glory 
is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take 
it patiently? But if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, 
ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. 

“For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also 
suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should 
follow His steps: Who did no sin, neither was guile found 
in His mouth: Who, when He was reviled, reviled not 
again; when He suffered, He threatened not; but com- 
mitted Himself to Him that judgeth righteously: Who 
His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, 
that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteous- 
ness: by whose stripes ye were healed” (1 Pet. 2:19-24). 


Suffering deservedly—there is nothing Christian in that; 
it is merely justice. Suffering undeservedly, yet voluntarily, 
as Jesus did for our sins—this is ‘“‘acceptable with God.” 
This is “Christian” (1 Pet. 4:16, cf. 13-15). This is the 
heart and essence of the Example He left that we ‘“‘should 
follow His steps.” 

Again, when Jesus took the role, the position as well as 
“form of a servant” (Phil. 2:7), and washed the disciples’ 
feet, He said of His act, “I have given you an EXAMPLE, 
that ye should do as I have done to you” (John 13:15). 

Why did He do all this? Why this humble service and 
voluntary suffering, undeserved and unparalleled in history? 
Why? Simply because He first HAD 1T IN His MINp. 
“Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: 
who” etc. (Phil. 2:5). 

3. His Minp 1n Us. It is a HumBLE mind. ‘“This 
mind in Christ Jesus” (5) caused Him to humble Himself 


38 His in Joyous Experience 
(6-8). Had He not been humble in mind He would never 


have been humble in life. Nor will we, as his followers. 
We cannot imitate Him; we must acquire His inner secret. 
Hence the chapter’s opening appeal; it contains the word 
“mind” four times in as many verses (2-5). 


1—Exhortation to One-Mindedness, 2:1-4 
Note 


“Ir” (1) presents a supposition according to fact—since 
there are—and, coupled with “THEREFORE,” makes an ap- 
peal to the rich spiritual resources of the Christian faith 
from which flow Christian experience and fellowship. Four 
are mentioned, seemingly that they may correlate with the ~ 
four exhortations that follow (2)—four springs issuing in 
four streams: 


Any Consola-| Any Comfort | Any Fellow- |Any Compas- 
tion in of ship of the sions and 
Christ Love Spirit Mercies 


Be Havethesame| Be of One Be of One | 


Vs. 2 Like-Minded Love Accord Mind 





NeGaTIVE Exuortations, “Let nothing,” ‘Look not” 
(2,4), seek to inhibit those states of strife, vain glory and 
self-interest which are inimical to right Christian minded- 
ness. Eschewed, they give place to the “lowliness of mind” 
which considers others better than ourselves and others’ 
interests before our own. 

CHRISTIAN Fruit (1), which requires the Channel of 
a CHRISTIAN MIND (2-4), must find its Root in the 
“MInpb oF Curist” (5). 


Comment 

THE Master-Minp. The Christian faith does not im- 
pose upon its followers a stereotyped life, bound by rules 
and regulations. It does not contemplate pressing all minds 
into one mould. But it does contemplate: (1) The im- 
partation of the matchless mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:16) 
by and through the New Birth (Regeneration), and (2) 
the working out of the qualities of that mind in practical 
living by and through His indwelling Presence (Sanctifica- 
tion). 

We marvel to go into a vault of a thousand safe de- 
posit boxes. Each box is equipped with a distinctive lock 


Christ the Pattern of Life By 


and key, no two alike, yet, as we are informed, there is a 
master-key which controls them all. So is the mind of 
Christ to those who are His own. His is a blessed control. 
Let His mind be in you. 

Like-mindedness, so sadly needed in Christ’s household, 
can come only in this way. As “things equal to the same 
thing are equal to each other,” so minds like the Master- 
mind will exhibit an essential likeness to each other. 


2—Christ Our Example, 2:5-11 
Note 


We come now to a notable passage of Scripture, reveal- 
ing in simple yet majestic language the person of our blessed 
Lord, in heaven and on earth, in relation to the Father 
and in relation to man, unveiling His pre-existent equality 
with God in eternity past, His voluntary subjection to God 
for the solution of sin, His consequent added glory now and 
on into eternity future. 


1. “Tuts Minp” (5) is the source of His Saviourhood. 
He was minded to be before He became. When did that 
“mind” begin? Not in Jesus, but “in Curist Jesus,” vol- 
untarily accepting the office and set apart thereto long be- 
fore He became Jesus: ““The Lamb slain from the founda-— 
tion of the world” (Rev. 13:8). Then, as Jesus, He 
continually expressed the same mind: “The Son of Man 
came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give 
His life a ransom for many” (Matt. 20:28). This mind 
that “was in Christ Jesus’? now Is to be “in you,” His 
followers. 

His Example covers both His HuMILIATION (6-8) and 
His EXALTratTIon (9-11)—three verses for each, connected 
by a significant “wherefore.” 


2. His HumMILiaTIoNn (6-8) consists of three most ob- 
vious stages: 

THE Nature oF His HuMILiaTION (6,7a). Huis SELF- 
RENUNCIATION; giving up His position in Deity. 

Here are three statements: (1) “Subsisting in the form 
of God”—His essential Deity which once having been He 
could never cease to be; it is in the essence of His being. 
(2) “He thought it not a thing to be grasped and held on 
to,’ this subsisting in the form of God, with all the glory 
and honor thereof. ‘This He could, and did, give up. (3) 


40 His in Joyous Experience 


“But emptied Himself’—a fathomless statement; eternity 
alone will suffice to plumb its depths of meaning—its mean- 
ing for Him and its meaning for us. He emptied Himself, 
not of Deity, for that was essential to His being, but of 
the glory of Deity, that which was His from eternity and 
by eternal right, that He might accomplish His redemptive 
purpose. 


THe Manner oF His Humitiation (7b). His In- 
CARNATION: taking His place in Humanity. 


“The form of a servant” is antithetical to “the form of 
God,” setting forth His newly-chosen mode of subsisting 
in human form, where, as man, He could be servant to 
God, rendering active and passive obedience, as pre-pictured 


in Psalm 40:7,8: 


“Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it 
is written of Me, I delight to do Thy will, OQ My God: 
yea, Thy law is within My heart.” 

“In the likeness of men” conveys the full reality of His 
human nature. He who had said, “Let us make man in 
our image, after our likeness,” is now ‘‘made” in man’s like- 
ness. What condescension for sinful man to hold in con-- 
templation! 

The marrow of the whole matter is in the word ‘“‘like- 
ness.” It is a window through which floods the light of 
His redemptive purpose in the Incarnation: God was “‘send- 
ing His own Son, in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for 
sin” (Rom. 8:3). Its anticipation in the Old Testament 
is in the great body of teaching clustered around the Hebrew 
word “gaal,’’ the Kinsman-Redeemer. He must be of our 


flesh and blood (Heb. 2:14). 


THE Extent oF His Humiuiation (8). His Cructi- 
FIXION ; giving up His position in Humanity, ) 

Having taken His place in the human race, “found in 
fashion as a man,” He was in position to display the moral 
glory of God in and through His human nature. Found 
in the position of man He did not think even this a thing 
to be held on to (cf. vs. 6); “He humbled Himself.” 

“And became obedient,” thus to undo ‘“‘one man’s dis- 
obedience—by the obedience of One” (Rom. 5:19). “Obe- 
dient unto death.” ‘The first man’s obedience would have 
been unto life, but having disobeyed unto death, this Man 
must obey unto death. Adam’s disobedience brought his 


Christ the Pattern of Life 4] 


posterity a harvest of death; Jesus’ obedience brought His 
posterity “out of death into life.” 


3. His ExatTaTIon (9-11) matches, yea far outdis- 
tances, His Humiliation. 

“Wherefore” reflects the justness of God’s response to 
His obedience in self-abasement. Enfolded in it also is the 
sacred mystery of a covenant between the Father and the 
Son, a covenant which lay back of the Son’s confidence in 
addressing the Father when through Death and Resurrec- 
tion He saw Himself at the triumphant turning-point of 
His Humiliation: 

“T have glorified Thee on the earth: I have finished 
the work which Thou gavest Me to do. And now, O 
Father, glorify Thou Me with Thine own self with the 
glory which I had with Thee before the world was” 
(John 17:4,5). 

Correspondent to His Humiliation, His Exaltation also 
consists of three stages: 

His EXALTATION IN THE Past (9a). “God HATH 
highly exalted Him.” ‘The Greek verb means, “hath lifted 
Him up above.” Not merely above the earth level and the 
experiences through which He had passed; He was lifted 
“above” all that can be known or named, as is set forth in 
Ephesians: 

“Which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him 
from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in 
the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, 
and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, 
not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: 
and hath put all things under His feet, and gave Him to 
be the Head over all things to the Church, which is His 
body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all’ (Eph. 
1:20-23). 

His EXALTATION IN THE PRESENT (9b). Today, in 
glory, He has “a name which Is above every name.” ‘The 
“name” is the sum of one’s fame—all by which one is 
known. Here on earth for a time His name leaped from 
lip to lip; ““His fame spread abroad throughout all the re- 
gion round about” (Mk. 1:28). ‘That was fleeting. But 
today—His fame fills the heavens. Not a heavenly being 
but knows the story and stands in awe at the Name. 

His EXALTATION IN THE Future (10,11). His great- 
est triumph still awaits Him, when “at the name of Jesus” 
—His human name, so despised and heaped with ignominy— 


42 His in Joyous Experience 


“every knee SHALL bow, every tongue SHALL confess.” It 
is certain, decreed, one of God’s pre-written purposes. 

Confess what? That Jesus, who voluntarily gave up His 
place as man among men to die for us, is more than man; 
that He is “Christ” and “Lord.” All will acknowledge 
His Messiahship, the anointed and appointed of God, and 
His Deity, the divine Lord, even God. 

“To the glory of God the Father.” God is the begin- 
ning and the end of His Exaltation. As the Son’s great 
aim on earth was His Father’s glory, so the goal of re- 
demption is the glorification of the Father through the 
universal acknowledgment of the Son. 


Comment 


Tue Derry or Curist. With this classic passage be- 
fore us, stating as it does our Saviour’s pre-existent “‘sub- 
sisting in the form of God,” we may well take occasion to 
refresh our mind and heart, reassuring our faith in a day 
of doubt, with the Church’s declarations and deliverances 
concerning His Deity: 


The first great ecumenical council assembled at Nice, 
A.D. 325, for the settlement of the Arian controversy, and 
consisting of 318 bishops, confessed its faith in “one Lord 
Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, begotten of the 
Father before all worlds; God of God, Light of Light, very 
God of very God, begotten, not made, being of the same 
substance with the Father; by whom all things were made; 
who, for us men, and for our salvation, came down from 
heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin 
Mary; and was made man.” 

And the Westminster Confession, which may be taken as 
the statement of all Protestantism, tells us, “The Son of 
God, the second person in the Trinity, being very and 
eternal God, of one substance, and equal with the Father, 
did, when the fulness of time was come, take upon Him 
man’s nature, with all the essential properties and common 
infirmities thereof, yet without sin: being conceived by the 
power of the Holy Ghost, in the womb of the Virgin Mary, 
of her substance. So that two whole, perfect and distinct 
natures, the Godhead and the manhood, are inseparably 
joined together in one person, without conversion, composi- 
tion, or confusion, which person is very God, and very 
man, yet one Christ; the only mediator between God and 
man.” 


The person of Christ, as very Man yet very God, stands 
unimpeached and unimpaired. His pre-existence, antedat- 
ing His Incarnation, alone suffices to explain His unique 


Christ the Pattern of Life 43 


personality and place in history, His personal self-conscious- 
ness of being the Son of God, His abiding influence, un- 
diminished through the years. 


THE Deptus oF His DecrapaTion. The heights from 
which He came, the depths to which He descended; these 
must determine the degree of His voluntary degradation. 
As God He humbled Himself to become man. As man 
He humbled Himself further, till He describes His despica- 
ble condition on the Cross by crying, “I am a worm, and 


no man” (Ps. 22:6). 


A worm! From man, with his highly organized and 
highly sensitized body, coupled with his intelligence, it is a 
very far distance down the scale of being to the worm, 
crawling at his feet. Yet that distance down is but a faint, 
shadowy suggestion of the depth downward my Saviour 
came from being God to being man. From Infinite to 
finite, who shall measure the distance? But—great as that 
was, He did not stop at man’s level. He further descended 
to the worm level. History has no parallel. How could 
He do it? Mute in contemplation, we can never cease to 
wonder. 

THe NAME ABovE Every NAme. ‘The supernal nature 
of ‘““The Name” now enjoyed by our Lord in heaven, mere 
mortals of earth may only surmise. Yet we have two 
means by which to gauge its glory even now: 

(1) The profusion of Names and Titles employed by 
Scripture adequately to set forth His august person, the 
many-sided nature of His mediatorial work, His wealth of 
relationship, temporal and eternal, reflecting the fact that 
in Him the Father has caused, all fulness to dwell and that 
in and through Him all human need is met. 

(2) ‘The wealth of Christian hymnary which has gath- 
ered round ““The Name” of Jesus, a galaxy of the most 
splendid songs of the Church, voicing the purest praises of 
His people, breathing the deepest gratitude of the soul and 
the highest aspirations after holy living. 


His NAME IN SCRIPTURE 


The following list of titles of our Lord is not thought 
to be exhaustive but will prove sufficiently comprehensive : 

Adam, the last (1 Cor. 15:45); Advocate (1 John 2:1); Al- 
mighty (Matt. 28:18); Alpha and Omega (Rev. 22:13); Altar 
(Heb. 13:10); Altogether lovely (S. of S. 5:16); Amen (Rev. 


44 His in Joyous Experience 


3:14); An Angel (Ex. 23:20); Angel of God (Ex. 14:19); Angel 
of Jehovah (Gen. 22:15); Angel of His presence (Isa. 63:9) ; 
Anointed (Ps. 2:2); Apostle (Heb. 3:1); Author of faith (Heb. 
122 )\ 

Babe (Lu. 2:12); Beginning (Col. 1:18); Beginning and ending 
(Rev. 1:8); Beginning of creation (Rev. 3:14); Beloved (Matt. 
12:18) ; Beloved Son (Matt. 17:5); Bishop of souls (1 Pet. 2:25) ; 
Blessed and only potentate (1 Tim. 6:15); Branch (Zech. 3:8) ; 
Branch of the Lord (Isa. 4:2); Branch of righteousness (Jer. 
33:15); Bread of God (John 6:33); Bread from heaven (John 
6:32); Bread of Life (John 6:35); Bridegroom (Matt. 9:15); 
Brightness of God’s glory (Heb. 1:3); Bright and Morning Star 
(Rev. 22:16); Brother (John 20:17); Builder (Heb. 3:3). 


Captain of the Lord’s host (Josh. 5:14); Captain of salvation 
(Heb, 2:10). Carpenter (Mk. 6:3) ; Chief corner Stone (1 Pet. 2:6) ; 
Chief shepherd (1 Pet. 5:4); Chiefest among ten thousand (S. of 
S. 5:10); Child (Isa. 9:6); Christ (Matt. 23:8); Christ Jesus 
(1 Tim. 1:15); Christ of God (Lu. 9:20); Christ, the Lord (Lu. 
2:11); Christ the Son of God (John 20:31); Commander (Isa. 
55:4); Consolation of Israel (Lu. 2:25); Corn of wheat (John 
12:24); Covenant of the people (Isa. 42:6); Covert from the 
tempest (Isa. 32:2); Counsellor (Isa. 9:6); Creator of all things 
(Col. 1:16) ; Crowned with glory and honor (Heb. 2:9) ; Crowned 
with many crowns (Rev. 19:12). 


David’s Lord (Matt. 22:45) ; David’s Son (Mk. 10:48) ; Daysman 
(Job 9:38); Dayspring (Lu. 1:78); Day-Star (2 Pet. 1:19); Dear 
Son (Col. 1:13) ; Defence (Ps. 89:18, 19) ; Deliverer (Rom. 11:26) ; 
Desire of all nations (Hag. 2:7) ; Door (John 10:9). 


Elect of God (Isa. 42:1); Elect Stone (1 Pet. 2:6); Ensign of 
the people (Isa. 11:10) ; End of the law (Rom. 10:4) ; Eternal Life 
(1 John 5:20); Everlasting Father (Isa. 9:6); Example of His 
people (1 Pet. 2:21); Express image of God’s person (Heb. 1:3). 


Faithful and true (Rev. 19:11) ; Faithful and true Witness (Rev. 
3:14) ; Faithful Witness (Rev. 1:5); Filling all in all (Eph. 1:23) ; 
Finisher of faith (Heb. 12:3); First born (Ps. 89:27); First-fruits 
(1 Cor. 15:20); First born from the dead (Col. 1:18); First born 
of many brethren (Rom. 8:29); First and last (Rev. 1:17) ; Foun- 
dation (1 Cor. 3:11); Forerunner (Heb. 6:20); Friend (S. of S. 
5:16). 

Gift of God (John 4:10); Glory of His people Israel (Luke 
2:32); God (John 1:1); God blessed forever (Rom. 9:5); God 
manifest in the flesh (1 Tim. 3:16); God of Abraham, Isaac and 
Jacob (Ex. 3:2,6); Good Shepherd (John 10:11); Governor (Matt 
2:6); Great God and Saviour (Tit. 2:13); Great High Priest 
(Heb. 4:14); Great Prophet (Luke 7:16); Great Shepherd (Heb. 
13:20). 

Head (Eph. 4:15); Head of the body (Col. 1:18); Head of all 
principality (Col. 2:10); Head of every man (1 Cor. 11:3); Head 
over all things (Eph. 1:22); Head Stone of the Corner (Ps. 
118:22); High Priest (Heb. 3:1); Holy One (Acts 2:27); Holy 
One, and the Just (Acts 3:14); Holy One of God (Mk. 1:24); 


Christ the Pattern of Life 45 


Hope of His People (Joel 3:16); Horn of Salvation (Luke 1:69) ; 
Husband (Isa. 54:5). 


I Am (John 8:58); I Am that I Am (Ex. 3:2, 14); I Am the 
resurrection (John 11:25); I Am the Son of God (John 10:36) ; 
Image of God (2 Cor. 4:4); Immanuel (Matt. 1:23) ; Immutable 
(Heb. 13:8); Intercessor (Heb. 7:25); Interpreter (Job 33:23). 

Jehovah (Isa. 26:4) ; Jehovah of hosts (Isa. 6:3); John 12:41) ; 
Jehovah mighty in battle (Ps. 24:8) ; Jehovah’s fellow (Zech. 13:7) ; 
Jehovah Jireh (Gen. 22:14); Jehovah Shammah (Ezek. 48:35); 
Jehovah Tsidkenu (Jer. 23:6); Jesus (Matt. 1:21); Jesus Christ 
(Rev. 1:5); Jesus, the Christ (Matt. 16:20); Jesus Christ our 
Lord (Rom. 5:21); Jesus Christ the righteous (1 John 2:1); Jesus 
of Nazareth (Acts 22:8); Jesus Christ of Nazareth (Acts 4:10) ; 
Judge of the world (Acts 17:31); Just (1 Pet. 3:18); Just One 
(Acts 7:52). 

Keeper of His People (Ps. 121:5); King (Acts 17:7); King 
of glory (Ps. 24:10); King in His beauty (Isa. 33:17); King 
forever (Ps. 29:10); King of Israel (John 1:49); King of na- 
tions (Rev. 15:3); King of the Jews (Matt. 2:2); King over all 
the earth (Zech 14:9); King of kings (Rev. 19:16); Knowing all 
things (John 21:17). 

Lamb (Rev. 21:23); Lamb of God (John 1:29); Lamb in the 
midst of the throne (Rev. 7:17); Lamb that was slain (Rev. 
5:12) ; Lamb without blemish (1 Pet. 1:19); Leader (Isa. 55:4); 
Life (John 14:6); Light of the world (John 8:12); Lion of the 
tribe of Judah (Rev. 5:5); Living Bread (John 6:51); Living 
One (Rev. 1:18); Living Stone (1 Pet. 2:4); Lord (Matt. 3:3); 
Lord and God (John 20:28); Lord of all (Acts 10:36); Lord of 
glory (1 Cor. 2:8); Lord of lords (Rev. 19:16); Lord of peace 
(2 Thess. 3:16); Lord of the dead and the living (Rom. 14:9); 
Lord of the Sabbath (Lu. 6:5) ; Lord our righteousness (Jer. 23:6) ; 
Lord over all (Rom. 10:12). 

Made to be sin (2 Cor. 5:21) ; Maker of the worlds (Heb. 1:2) ; 
Man approved of God (Acts 2:22); Man of rest (1 Chron. 
22:9,10); Man of sorrows (Isa. 53:3); Mediator (1 Tim. 2:5); 
Mediator of the new covenant (Heb. 12:24); Messenger of the 
covenant (Mal. 3:1) ; Messiah, called Christ (John 4:25) ; Messiah 
the Prince (Dan. 9:25); Mighty God (Isa. 9:6); Morning Star 
(Rev. 22:16). 

Nazarene (Matt. 2:23). 

Offering (Eph. 5:2); One Lord Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 8:6); 
One shepherd (John 10:16); Only begotten Son (John 3:16); Our 
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ (2 Pet. 1:11) ; Our passover (1 Cor. 
5:7); Own Son (Rom. 8:32). ; 

Power of God (1 Cor. 1:24) ; Precious Corner Stone (Isa. 28:16) ; 
Precious Stone (1 Pet. 2:6); Prince of life (Acts 3:15). Prince of 
peace (Isa. 9:6); Prince of the kings of the earth (Rev. 1:5); 
Prophet (Deut. 18:15): Prophet mighty in deed and word (Luke 
24:19) ; Propitiation (Rom. 3:25). | 

Quickening spirit (1 Cor. 15:45). 

Redeemer (Job 19:25); Refuge from the storm (Isa. 25:4); 
Righteous Servant (Isa. 53:11); Righteousness (1 Cor. 1:30) ; Rock 


46 His in Joyous Experience 


(Matt. 16:18); Rock of ages (Isa. 26:4); Root and Offspring of 
David (Rev. 22:16); Ruler in Israel (Mic. 5:2). 

Sacrifice to God (Eph. 5:2); Sanctification (1 Cor. 1:30); Sav- 
iour (Acts 5:31); Second man, the Lord from heaven (1 Cor. 
15:47); Seed of the woman (Gen. 3:15); Servant (Phil. 2:7); 
Shadow from the heat (Isa. 26:4); Shepherd and bishop of souls 
(1 Pet. 2:25); Shiloh (Gen. 49:10); Son (John 8:36); Son of 
Abraham and David (Matt. 1:1); Son of God (John 1:34); Son 
of Man (Mk. 10:33); Son of the highest (Luke 1:32); Spiritual 
rock (1 Cor. 10:4); Star and scepter (Num. 24:17); Stone cut out 
without hands (Dan. 2:34); Stone of stumbling (1 Pet. 2:8); Sun 
of righteousness (Mal. 4:2); Sure foundation (Isa. 28:16) ; Surety 
of a better covenant (Heb. 7:22). 

Testator (Heb. 9:16) ; The Coming One (Rev. 1:8); The right- 
eous Judge (2 Tim. 4:8); Tried Stone (Isa. 28:16); True God 
(1 John 5:20); True Light (John 1:9); Truth (John 14:6). 

Unspeakable gift (2 Cor. 9:15); Upholder of all things (Heb. 
Mea 6 

Vine (John 15:5). 

Way (John 14:6); Well beloved Son (Mark 12:6); Wisdom 
(Prov. 8:1); Wisdom of God (1 Cor. 1:24); With two or three 
gathered to His name (Matt. 18:20); With us all the days (Matt. 
28:20) ; Witness to the people (Isa. 55:4); Wonderful (Isa. 9:6) ; 
Word (John 1:1); Word made flesh (John 1:14); Word of God 
(Rev. 19:13); Word of life (1 John 1:1); Worthy to open the 
book (Rev. 5:9); Worthy to receive all praise (Rev. 5:12). 


His NAME IN SONG 


From among the many a few of the more familiar are 
noted (printed in part) : 


“JESUS, THY NAME I LOVE” 


Jesus, Thy name I love, 
All other names above, 
Jesus, my Lord. 


“THE NAME OF JESUS” 


The name of Jesus is so sweet, 
I love its music to repeat; 

It makes my joys full and complete, 
The precious name of Jesus, 


“Jesus,” oh, how sweet the name! 
“Jesus,” every day the same; 

“Jesus,” let all saints proclaim 
Its worthy praise forever. 


“THERE IS A NAME I LOVE TO HEAR” 


There is a name I love to hear, 
I love to sing its worth; 

It sounds like music to mine ear, 
The sweetest name on earth. 


Christ the Pattern of Life 47 


“THERE IS NO NAME SO SWEET” 
There is no name so sweet on earth, 
No name so dear in heaven, 
As that before His wondrous birth, 
To Christ the Saviour given. 
“HOW SWEET THE NAME OF JESUS SOUNDS” 
How sweet the name of Jesus sounds 
In a believer’s ears. 
It soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds, 
And drives away his fears. 
“TAKE THE NAME OF JESUS WITH YOU” 
Take the name of Jesus with you, 
Child of sorrow and of woe— 
It will joy and comfort give you, 
Take it then where’er you go. 
Precious name, O how sweet! 
Hope of earth and joy of heav’n. 


These lines, penned by a converted atheist, carry con- 
viction as to the need, the power, the worth of the Name 
to a lost soul: 

I’ve tried in vain a thousand ways 
My fears to quell, my hopes to raise; 
But what I need, the Bible says, 
Is ever, only Jesus. 


My soul is night, my heart is steel— 
I cannot see, I cannot feel: 

For light, for life, I must appeal 
In simple faith to Jesus. 


He died, He lives, He reigns, He pleads; 
There’s love in all His words and deeds; 
There’s all a guilty sinner needs 
For evermore in Jesus. 


Though some should sneer, and some should blame, 
V’ll go with all my guilt and shame; 

I'll go to Him because His name, 
Above all names is Jesus. 

Scripture and song are corroborated by this marvelous 
fact: The word “Jesus,” bearing from God a message to 
all men, proves to be a universal word. Linguistically, it 
fits into every language of earth. It does not need to be 
translated, merely transliterated, as though it were meant 
to be upon every man’s lips. Friend, how often do you 
lisp the Name, in prayer? in praise? in the sense of His 
preciousness?—‘‘My Jesus.” 

THE Gtory To Bg. In the progress of the divine pur- 
pose there is a glory yet to be revealed; it concerns both the 
Son and the Father. 


48 His in Joyous Experience 


For the Son, a universal homage awaits. ‘Every knee 
shall bow and every tongue shall confess.’ Beginning in 
heaven, soon every creature of every level is voicing His 
praise: 


“And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels 
round about the throne and the living creatures and the 
elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times 
ten thousand, and thousands of thousands; saying with a 
loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive 
power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, 
and glory, and blessing. And every creature which is in 
heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as 
are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, 
Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto Him 
that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever 
and ever’ (Rev. 5:11-13). 


Read also: Rev. 19:11-16; Zech. 14:9-21; Psalm 72. 


For the Father, the finality of glory awaits. The pur- 
poses of redemption converge upon the Father. ‘The glory 
of the Son, accomplished through His righteous reign, cul- 
minates “‘to the glory of God the Father.”’ ‘Thus we read: 


“Then cometh the end, when He shall have delivered up 
the kingdom to God, even the Father; when He shall have 
put down all rule and all authority and power. For He 
must reign, till He hath put all enemies under His feet. 
The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. And when 
all things shall be subdued unto Him, then shall the Son 
also Himself be subject unto Him that put all things under 
Him, that God may be all in all” (1 Cor. 15:24-28). 


EXAMPLE For His Sons. Not forgetting that all this is 
the outworking of the mind of Christ, and that that mind 
is held before us as an example for us—‘‘Let this mind be in 
you which was also in Christ Jesus’—the question arises: 
“Tf the Father honored thus the one Son who humbled 
Himself, will He deal similarly with His other sons?” 


That our Father invites us to avail ourselves of the same 
principle on His part with a like experience on our part, ap- 
pears evident from this word in Peter: 


“Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. 
Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed 
with humility; for God resisteth the proud, and giveth 
grace to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore under 
the mighty hand of God, that HE MAY EXxALT YOU in due 
time: casting all your care upon Him; for He careth for 

ou” (I Pet. 5:5-7). 


Christ the Pattern of Life 49 


HumILity, as exemplified by our Lord, must embody 
such qualities of heart and such experiences of life as An- 
drew Murray so beautifully portrays: 

“Humility is perfect quietness of heart. It is to have 
no trouble. It is never to be fretted, or vexed, or irritated, 
or sore, or disappointed. It is to expect nothing, to wonder 
at nothing that is done to me, to feel nothing against me. 
It is to be at rest when nobody praises me, and when I am 
blamed or despised. It is to have a blessed home in the 
Lord where I can go in and shut the door and kneel to my 
Father in secret, and am at rest as in a deep sea of calm- 
ness when all around and above is trouble.” 


3—The Pattern Worked Out in Believers, 2:12-16 
Chart 

Not ImrraTION, BUT IMPLANTATION. Are we to imi- 
tate the mind of Christ and the life flowing from that 
mind? Impossible! ‘The product of our effort would be 
artificial, and wholly human. This is not God’s way. He 
first imparts His life to us. He implants His life in us. 
Then He brings to fruition His life, His very own life, 
through us. ; 

This is the divine order in Christian Experience. Note 
the Chart. Before He presented Himself to us as “Our 
Example,” He had already become in us “Our Life.’’ The 
second chapter builds upon the first. The order is logical. 
The process is vital. God within us will reproduce the same 
traits of character as He wrought in His Son, in propor- 
tion as we allow Him. 

This, then, is the very appeal which Paul makes: Hav- 
ing seen in Christ the Pattern Life, ““Work out your own 
salvation, for it is God who is working (also) in you.” 


Note . 

“WHEREFORE (12a). Since humble obedience in our 
Example was productive of such glorious results (note the 
“wherefore” of vs. 9) we are exhorted by a correspondent 
“wherefore” to a like obedience for the attaining of like 
results. 

Not DEPENDENT Upon HuMmMAN Leapers (12b). So 
far from being disheartened or growing lax through the 
Apostle’s not being present with them, they are exhorted 
“much more in my absence” to devote themselves to Chris- 
tian living, since they have the vital secret within themselves. 

“Work Out Your Own SALVATION” (12c). This 


50 His in Joyous Experience 


presupposes its possession, as one works out a garden, already 
his, by cultivating it and causing it to produce the finest 
flowers and fruits; or a ball-player works out his pitching 
ability, exercising, developing, training the possibilities lat- 
ently his. So the Christian is exhorted, having received 
Christ and seen in Him the beauties of character, to work 
out these possibilities in a salvation peculiarly, personally 
and individually, “your own.”’ Work out in terms of your 
own living the beauties inherently possible in such a salva- 
tion. For its realization abundant encouragement follows. 


Power TO REALIZE THE PATTERN (13). God supplies 
the power. It is Himself—“God worketh in you.” In 
the Greek ‘‘God”’ is emphatic. God in-working us, as He 
did Christ, is the great secret. 

The entire sentence should be read in strict regard for 
the original: ‘““For God it is who is in-working (effectually 
working) in you both the willing and the working for His 
good-pleasure.” The form of the verb makes it still more 
meaningful: God is ‘‘displaying His activity, showing Him- 
self operative” in us, as He did in His Son, that we too 
may be His “good pleasure.”’ 

Says Augustine: ““We will, but God works the will in us. 
We work, therefore, but God works the working in us.” 

This inward realization of the Pattern is now to find out- 
ward manifestation in the life. 

EXHORTATION TO EMBopy THE PATTERN (14, 15). 
Now we come to the “do.” Our lives are to exhibit the 
same traits of character in outward conduct as were found 
in our Master and Pattern, seeing God is working in us 
the same mind and purpose. ‘The master-key is humility. 
Humble as He, we will not murmur (against God) nor 
dispute (with men). 

The exhortation lends itself to tabulation: 


God-ward Man-ward 
Vs. 14} Without Murmurings | Without Disputings 


Blameless Harmless 


Sons of God In the World 
Without Blemish Shining as Lights 





PAUL’s PERSONAL APPEAL (16). The Apostle has made 
an investment in them which is now at stake. Having 


Christ the Pattern of Life 51 


preached to them he is looking for returns “in the day 
of Christ’—the day when we shall receive rewards for serv- 
ice (Matt. 16:27; 2 Cor. 5:10). His expectation of reward 
includes not merely those to whom he has personally min- 
istered “the word of life,’’ but the multiplied many won in 
turn through their faithfulness in “holding it forth.” 

To be “light” (vs. 15) to others we must have the word 
of “life.’ The two are indissolubly linked—scientifically, 
spiritually and experimentally. “In Him was life; and the 
life was the light of men” (John 1:4). Lacking His life, 
the light in us will be but darkness. 


The Christ-Patterned Life 
1. Its Power—DIvINE PERSONALITY (12, 13). 


“Tt is God who worketh in you.” 
2. Its Product—(a) IN Conpuct (14). 


“Do all things without murmurings or disputings.” 
(b) IN CHARACTER (15a). 
‘“‘Blameless, harmless, the sons of God, without blem- 
ish.”’ 
(c) IN ConsEcrRATION (15b, 16a). 
“Shine as lights in the world; holding forth the word 
of life.” 


3. Its Prospect—TuHE Rejoicinc oF REwarp (16b). 
“T may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not 
run in vain, neither labored in vain.” 


Comment 


Six words may well be employed to embody the com- 
ment due this section: 

1. Patrern. We have a pattern life after which the 
Christian life is moulded and modeled. ‘This means a 
standard, a norm, by which certain things may be adjudged 
Christian and others not Christian. Every follower of the 
Lord should standardize his life by Him. We have no 
right to cling to that which is foreign to Him, foist it upon 
Him and our fellow-believers, labeling it “Christian”? when 
it is not. To “work out” our salvation is to work out of 
our living all that is extraneous thereto, letting that which 
is germane come into power and fruition. 

2. Perrsist—ENcE. There is a persistence of type in 
Christian living, whether in Christ or His follower of the 


i Hs in Joyous Experience 


first or twentieth century, secured by the self-same Spirit 
actuating all. 

As a lad on the Atlantic coast I came to know the char- 
acteristics of a maple. Decades later and far miles dis- 
tant, on the Pacific slope, I found it the same maple. “The 
type persists because the life is the same. So with the life 
that Jesus lived nineteen hundred years ago; by the same 
Spirit His life in me should reproduce the same traits of 
character. 


3. Power. God’s child is possessed of a power that is 
startling and challenging. He is inwrought by a power 
not man’s, but God’s. 

Some time since one of our State institutions of learning 
experimented with vegetation, to test the strength of grow- 
ing cellular life. A squash was harnessed and 60 pounds 
imposed upon its back. It kept on growing. ‘hey weighted 
it with 300 pounds. It kept on growing. ‘They substituted 
1,100 pounds. It kept on growing. “They now ventured 
2,300 pounds. What could a squash do with over a ton 
on its back? It kept on growing. 


If God’s power is such through non-sentient cell life, 
what should He not do through His own child, made in 
His image? 

4. PERSONALITY. Ours is not merely God’s power, as 
in nature, but the power of God, Himself, indwelling and 
inworking. In the realm of Christian experience, power 
is personality. “Apart from Me ye can do nothing.” “Ye 
shall receive power, the Holy Spirit coming upon you.” 
“God it is who is working in you.” We in (union with) 
Him, He in (union with) us, laying hold of our being’s 
vital processes, actuating, transforming, and energizing its 
intellectual life, its affectional life, its volitional life—this 
is power. 

5. Possitnitiry. Were I dependent upon my own human 
energies and capabilities, my possibilities would be bounded 
by the finite; but resting in and relying upon Him working 
in me, my horizon expands to the Infinite. What can He 
not do as He works in me “to will and to work His good- 
pleasure,” if I but yield to His working. No stagnation! 
No limitation. Each new day a fresh, untried opportunity 
for God in me. 


Christ the Pattern of Life 53 


6. Prospect. We live and labor in prospect of “re- 
joicing in the day of Christ.” ‘The same power that has 
wrought in us works also through us, empowering our 
service, claiming, quickening, and keeping other precious 
souls as sheaves for the garnering. In that day He will 
bring them, with us, into His glorified presence. “They 
will be our “crown of rejoicing.’ May the prospect nerve 
us to fresh, untiring endeavor. 


4—The Human Example of Christian Leaders, 2:17-30 
Note 

Put to the practical test, how will the mind of Christ 
express itself in those who are filled with His presence and 
imbued with His Spirit? For answer, Paul appends a per- 
sonal allusion to himself, Timothy and Epaphroditus, add- 
ing warmth of human interest to the picture. “They are 
here mentioned as men who embody and exemplify the mind 
of their Lord and Master, as certain others disappointingly 
do not. 

1. Pau (17,18). The mind of Christ renders him 
so unmindful of self that he faces the eventuality of his 
own obliteration i in the ‘ ‘sacrifice and service of their faith,” 
only to “joy and rejoice.” 

2. Timotuy (19,22,23). A son in the faith he has 
proved himself faithful. He has an unselfishness of mind 
and spirit that render him useful in the Lord’s service and 
dependable on the Apostle’s errand. ‘The sadness of the 
picture is that none others are like him. And why? It is 
a matter of the mind. 

3. OruHers NoT “LIKE-MINDED” (20,21). The teach- 
ing of the chapter enforced by contrast, and a very sad 
contrast at that. “These are not minded, like Timothy, to 
“care for your state’ (20). Why? ‘For they all seek 
their own” (21a). Having the mind of Christ is the one 
way we will ever care for “the things which are Jesus 
Christ’s” (21b). We must heed the opening exhortation: 


“Look not every man on his own things, but every man 
also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, 
which was also in Christ Jesus” (2:4,5). 

4. EpapHropitus (24-30). A sweet and beautiful 
testimony to a worthy servant of Christ. He combines 
faithfulness (25) and tenderness (26) in a service that is 


54 His in Joyous Experience 


sacrificial and self-forgetful to the point of death (30). 
Loving and beloved (26-29) his life is still a benediction in 
contemplation. 


Comment 


Our Present-Day GospEL. Every follower of Christ 
has to face the responsibility of discipleship as a demand 
upon him to embody and reflect the mind of Christ. It is 
inescapable. Inevitably His mind finds expression in us, 
or is denied such expression. We are an up-to-the-minute 
edition of the Gospel, “the epistle of Christ, written not 
with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in 
tables of stone, but in fleshly tables of the heart’—out on 
the street where it is ‘known and read of all men” (2 Cor. 
STEER 

Unless we allow the Spirit to write in us His full, per- 
fect mind, the mind of Christ, our lives are bound to bring 
to our fellow-men a daily distortion of His truth, a daily 
misrepresentation of Him. 


“You are writing a Gospel, a chapter each day, 
By deeds that you do, by words that you say. 

Men read what you write, whether faithless or true. 
Say! What is the Gospel according to You?” 


CHAPTER III 
CHRIST THE GOAL OF LIFE 
The Onward Look 


Coming to Chapter 3 our viewpoint once again changes. 
Our eyes no longer turned backward to the Christ who 
was, we are now to look ONwarp to the Christ who is to 
be, a look that infilters into all present effort a new eager- 
ness and enthusiasm. That the Holy Spirit has included 
this forward look in His treatise on Christian Experience 
speaks volumes for its practical value to the believer. 
Outline 
1—Warning against the Unregenerate among Them, 3:1-6. 

(They have not Entered the Christian Race). 
a—‘‘Rejoice in the Lord” (la). 

The one “Safe” Course (1b). 

b—The Marks of the mere “Professor” (2). 

Unchanged as to (1) Nature (“dogs”), (2) Con- 

duct, (3) Reliance upon old Religious Forms. 
c—The Marks of the true Believer (3). 

Circumcised of Heart, they: (1) Worship in the 
Spirit; (2) Rejoice in Christ; (3) Renounce con- 
fidence in the Flesh. 

d—Paul’s Ground for Self-Righteousness (4-6). 
Possessed of (1) Pride of Birth; (2) Pride of 
Position; (3) Pride of Personal Devotion. 
2—The Christian Race: Its Start, 3:7-9. 
a—Renouncing Self-Righteousness as Loss (7,8). 
b—Counting Christ and His Righteousness as Gain 
(8,9). 
3—The Christian Race: Its Running, 3:10-19. 
a—An Experimental Knowledge of Christ. 
(In His Resurrection, Sufferings, Death) (10). 
The Assurance of Attaining the Goal. 
(Of our own “Out-Resurrection”) (11). 
b—Pressing on Eagerly for the Goal (12-14). 
(1) Not Counting ourselves to have Attained 
Civeisa)., 
55 


His in Joyous Experience 


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Christ the Goal of Life 57 


(2) Forgetting the Things Behind (13b). 
(3) Reaching on for the Things Before (13c). 
(4) Intent upon the Prize of our High Calling 
(14). 
c—Exhortation to “Be thus Minded” (15). 
That we may “Walk” Worthily of the Race (16). 
d—The Apostolic Example to be Followed (17). 
The Shameful Walk of Others to be Shunned 
(18,19). 
4—The Christian Race: Its Finish, 3:20,21. 


a—Precious Fact: Citizenship in Heaven (20a). 
b—Present Attitude: Looking for the Lord Jesus Christ 
(20b). 
c—Prospective Glory: Likeness to Him, even in Body 
(21% 
Chart: Chapter 3. See Opposite page. 


Applying the mode of chart analysis already adopted, a 
reading of the chapter yields the following conclusions con- 
cerning its contents: 


1. Wuere He Is. Not Within us, as in Chapter 1, 
nor yet Behind us, as in Chapter 2, but rather BEFORE Us. 
Christ of the FururE; Christ in prospect ; the Christ whom 
“we look for” (20); ‘who sHALL change” etc. (21). 


And, let us be bearing in mind, we are urged to this view 
of Christ, not for theoretical purposes, no theory is ad- 
vanced; nor yet for doctrinal purposes, no doctrine is pro- 
pounded; but solely for practical purposes, for returns in 
the coin of Christian Experience. 


2. Wuat He Is. Our reading reveals the fact that 
central to the thought of the chapter is the figure of the 
Christian Race. And the Goat of this race is Christ 
Himself (14), the inspiration and incentive of our on-reach- 
ing endeavor. ‘The “goal” and the “prize” it holds forth 
to view are “in Christ Jesus.” Spurred on by the pros- 
pect of Him we run the race. 

3. His Minp1n Us. Such a race earnestly undertaken, 
with such a goal, is bound to beget in us what we may well 
term an Eacer Minp. This eagerness of mind results from 
an utter reversal of values—things once “gain” are now 
“loss,” and vice versa—causing us to readily relinquish our 
grasp of the worthless things for which we formerly strove, 


58 His in Joyous Experience 


that we may lay hold of those things that are possessed of 
a new-found value “in Christ Jesus’ (3-9). 


1—Warning Against the Unregenerate, 3:1-6 
Note 


THE SetTtinc for this chapter is the presence in the 
Church, then as now, of those who bear no evidence of 
having been born again. ‘Their presence is noted by the 
Apostle as a problem, enforced by his own experience out 
of Christ (4-6), for which the teaching of the chapter is 
the divinely appointed and adapted solution. 


Whatever else may be said of them, they fall short fun- 
damentally in the fact that they have not as yet entered the 
Christian Race. 


“FINALLY (1) is not used by way of conclusion but by 
way of transition to another important phase of Christian 
Experience. It has the force of “furthermore” (so ren- 
dered in 1 Thess, 4:1); a further unfolding of the theme. 

“REJOICE IN THE Lorp” (la). ‘To this they are ex- 
horted as their one “‘safe’’ course. Not merely “rejoice’— 
this is not the point just now; but “rejoice in the Lord” 
as opposed to the many things in which men are prone to 
rejoice—a rejoicing that results either in unrighteousness 
(2) or in self-righteousness (3b-6). 

Prorgessors (2) AND BELIEVERS (3) CONTRASTED. 
“Beware ’—keep your eye on—‘‘the dogs,” those who, stran- 
gers to grace, by their unchanged lives bring the unworthy 
ideals of the world into the Church, contrasted with the 
“we” of true, transforming faith and life “in Christ Jesus.” 

ProFeEssors are: 1—In character (self-ward), unchanged 
in nature, tastes, appetites, desires—‘‘dogs,” degraded and 
degrading, wanting in spiritual nature and capacity for 
spiritual things (see vs. 19, 2 Pet. 2:12,22; Isa. 56:10,11). 
2—In conduct (neighbor-ward) they are counted “evil 
workers.” Their being flavors their doing. Even their 
best efforts cannot be called “good works.” For “a corrupt 
tree bringeth forth evil fruit; neither can a corrupt tree 
bring forth good fruit” (Matt. 7:17,18). Not themselves 
partakers of the Gospel they can create only confusion of 
thought and perversion of truth. 3—In worship (God- 
ward) they substitute for reality a legalism or formalism, 
to which the Apostle applies a term of reproach—‘‘con- 


Christ the Goal of Life 59 


cision,” suggesting a senseless mutilation of the flesh, going 
beyond the law into a heathenism it prohibits (1 Kings 18 :28; 
Lev. 21:5). In all this there is doubtless a distinct allusion 
to Judaizing teachers. 

BELIEVERS, however, are the true “circumcision’’—no 
longer an outward form prescribed by law, but an inward 
experience of the heart. Out of this experience we: 1— 
“Worship God in (by) the Spirit”—since His Spirit now 
indwells us, thus rendering to God the only acceptable 
worship (see John 4:23,24). 2—“Rejoice in Christ Jesus” 
whose redemption is so abundant as to supply us with a 
righteousness that covers all evil works as well as lack of 
good works. Praise His name and rejoice in Him alone! 
3—‘‘Have no confidence in the flesh.” Self, what man is 
by nature, lacks all inherent capability of goodness, as the 
Apostle elsewhere affirms: “For I know that in me (that is, 
in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing” (Rom. 7:18). The 
believer, then, has the only true life—God-ward, neighbor- 
ward, self-ward. 

PAUL’s GROUND FOR SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS (4-6). If 
any man ever had warrant for “confidence in the flesh”— 
resting in his natural endowment and attainment in the 
accepted Jewish faith and its legal requirements—Paul was 
that man. “I more” (4). If ever a man could hope to 
find favor with God in and of himself, it was he, as he 
proceeds to set forth. 

Note his: 1—Pride of Birth (5a). Not a proselyte, 
needing to be circumcised later in life, but born into the 
very heart of the Jewish race. 2—Pride of Position (5b). 
As a Pharisee he ranked the highest for orthodoxy and strict 
conformity to all the law required. 3—Pride of Personal 
Devotion (6). Not lacking in “zeal’’—though so woefully 
mistaken in it, as he later discovered; nor falling short in 
character or conduct—“blameless” as judged by strict legal 
standards. 

Comment 


More THAN Mere Moratity. All that Paul has 
enumerated, his stock in trade as a devotee of the Jewish 
religion, merely contributed to his self-approbation. It is 
“confidence in the flesh’—a glorying in what self is and 
self does. His “ego” is pleased; others approve and praise; 
but throughout God is not even mentioned. 


60 His in Joyous Experience 


Much that goes by the name Religion is merely this, an 
attempt to be and do what is accounted “good,” a system 
of ethics that satisfies a human standard but utterly fails 
to “justify in His sight” (Rom. 3:20). ‘True religion 
relates us to God, saved, justified, approved of Him. What 
a change from seeking the approval of “self” and “others” 
to being ‘‘approved of God.” Life has a new center—“‘No 
longer I, but Christ.” 

SINCERITY Nor SUFFICIENT. Sincerity is no substitute 
for knowing and acting upon the truth. Yet how often we 
hear the plea, “If a person is only sincere in what he be- 
lieves.”” Paul was sincere, intensely so; yet his very sin- 
cerity, based upon a false belief, led him to a course of action 
that became the regret of his life (1 Cor. 15:9; Gal. 1:13). 
Note his confession: 

‘Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and 


injurious: but I obtained mercy, because 1 did it ignor- 
antly in unbelief” (1 Tim, 1:13). 


Boasted sincerity becomes confessed ignorance. And 
thousands of souls, perfectly sincere in the ignorance of 
unbelief, have walked on into the jaws of death. ‘To “love 
our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity’—this is life. 

“REJOICE IN CHRIST’ (3). Such is Paul’s description 
of a Christian. Not merely to believe in Him but to re- 
joice in Him, as against the things that please and pamper 
“the flesh.” Many a man, professedly a follower of Christ, 
is today out on the high seas of a worldly, pleasure-seeking 
life. Why? He asked Christ to save him, but not to satisfy 
him. To rejoice in Christ is to find Him our All-in-All, fill- 
ing and flooding the soul with an exuberance of life to which 
others are strangers. “There is no greater guarantee of a 
godly life or safeguard against a worldly one. When we 
let Him satisfy, we ‘“‘put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make 
not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof” (Rom. 
13:14). 

The Christian Life a Race 

From this on the thought of the chapter is pressed into 
the imagery of the Race, so familiar to the Greek mind. 
The first step is the Start; then comes the Running; finally 
the Finish. 

The difficulty with the unbeliever, even the most moral 
and most religious, is that he is not even in the Christian 
race. He has never made a start. 


Christ the Goal of Life 61 


JesUS THE START AND FinisH. The Race of Faith, 
in which we are called to succeed the Old Testament 
worthies (Hebrews 11), is described as one into which 
Jesus has introduced us—its “Author’’; in the running of 
which He is at all times the inspiration—‘‘Looking unto 
Jesus”; and in which He Himself leads on to a glorious 
finish—its ‘‘Finisher.”’ 

“Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so 
great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, 
and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run 
with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto 
Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith; who for the 
joy that was set before Him endured the Cross, despising 
the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne 
of God” (Heb. 12:1,2). 

Note how closely our chapter corresponds in its sequence 
of thought: The Start (7-9) ; The Running (10-19) ; The 
Finish (20,21). See Outline. 

Here, then, is the solution sought for the problem with 
which this chapter opens—the problem of mere morality, 
or even dead religious formality, in either case a total lack 
of spiritual vitality. The solution is this: 


A GENUINE EXPERIENCE OF CHRIST— 
1. Resting in His Righteousness, to the 
Renouncing of any fancied Righteousness of our 
own (7-9). 
2. Reaching on toward Perfection, to be 
Realized only in Him (10-19). 
3. Receiving its triumphant Completion, in the 
Redemption of the Body, at our Lord’s Return 
PALI 


2—The Christian Race: Its Start, 3:7-9 

Note 

“But” (7). This “but” is the pivot around which Paul’s 
life became revolutionized—changed from Saul to Paul. 
Into it is pressed all of his Damascus Road experience. He 
saw Christ in personal revelation. He cried, “Who art 
Thou, Lord?” MHe there began asking, ‘Lord, what wilt 
Thou have me to do?” As he yielded, Christ revealed to 
him became Christ revealed in him (Gal. 1:16). The light 
that shone about him became a transforming illumination 
within him. Henceforth his life revolves about a Person. 


62 His in Joyous Experience 


“For God, who commanded the light to shine out of 
darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of 
the knowledge of the glory of God in the FACE OF JESUS 
CHRIST” (2 Cor. 4:6). 


RENOUNCING SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS AS Loss (7,8). 
The reversal of values is instant and complete. ‘“Whatso- 
ever things were gains”—plural, as enumerated above (4-6), 
things he individually prized and prided himself in—‘‘those 
I counted loss’”—singular, lumped together in one lot— 
“loss for Christ” (7). 

This is the first step in the Christian life, for the 
Apostle and for the humblest believer: 


3 


' “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, 
' and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For who- 
- soever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will 
+ lose his life for My sake, the same shall save it” (Luke 
| 9:23,24). 


CouNTING CHRIST AND, His RIGHTEOUSNESS AS GAIN 
(8,9). Into this brief statement of personal experience Paul 
compresses the whole doctrinal teaching of Romans 1-5. 
That there is no such thing as “a righteousness of mine 
own’ is his powerful plea, proved in Rom. 1:18-3:20. That 
the only righteousness one can ever hope to have is “that 
which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which 
is from God by faith’ (9)—this is his great declaration, 
illustrated and enforced in Rom. 3:21-5:21. 

Here in Philippians Paul has given his own personal 
experience out of which grew his statement of the doctrine 
of Justification by Faith. For us the Spirit reverses the 
process: out of the doctrine grows our experience. 

Comment 

SEEING THE Lorp. For the early disciples, Christian 
experience began when they began to say one to the other, 
“We have seen the Lord.” Crucified, dead, risen again— 
and we have seen Him! ‘Iwo things at once follow: A 
sense of “loss,” in self; a sense of “gain,” in Him. A 
great light breaks, before which the stars of our fancied 
goodness fade into nothingness. In the brightness of a 
transfiguration experience, His and ours, we see “Jesus 
only.” We wonder that the things which, since our eyes 
were opened by the sight of Him, seem only tawdry tinsel, 
could ever have enamored us. Constrained to ‘“‘count them 
but refuse,” into the discard they go. In Him is our right- 
eousness, Our riches and our rejoicing. 


Christ the Goal of Life 63 


“For Him I count as gain each loss, 
Disgrace for Him renown; 

Well may I glory in my cross, 
While He prepares my crown.” 

“FouUND IN Him” (9) has the forward look characteristic 
of this chapter—forward to the future coming of our Lord 
when all hearts will be revealed. Not to be found “in 
Him” in that day will mean our unspeakable shame and 
confusion. 

“And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he 


shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed 
before Him at His coming” (1 John 2:28). 


3—The Christian Race: Its Running, 3:10-19 
Note 


Possessed of Christ’s righteousness, his further desire is 
for a personal knowledge of Him, in the power of spiritual 
intimacy and fellowship. By the former he became a 
Christian, entered the race. By this latter he seeks to live 
the life, to run successfully the race. ‘The former took us 
through Romans 1-5; this finds us in Romans 6-8. 


AN EXPERIMENTAL KNOWLEDGE OF CurisT (10). Our 
success in the Christian life is dependent upon our knowing 
Him, in a fellowship, a participation in the great, initial, 
pivotal facts of the Christian faith—His resurrection and 
its antecedent sufferings and death. 

All this is the familiar language of Rom. 6:1-13. Here 
we are to “know” (three times) Him in the experimental 
value of our union with Him in these experiences—that 
“with Him” we were crucified, were buried, were raised 
again, and now walk in newness of life. All “with Him.” 
The “power” of these experiences with Him lies in the privi- 
lege to ‘Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed 
unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord” 
(6:11) and to “Yield yourselves unto God, as those that 
are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments 
of righteousness unto God” (6:13). 


THE ASSURANCE OF OuR Own Out-REsuRRECTION. I 
desire thus to know Him, “If by any means I may attain 
unto the resurrection from among the dead” (11). Were 
we to refer these words to a present, spiritual resurrection 
life, we would cause Paul to contradict himself. Such 


64 His in Joyous Experience 


resurrection, he teaches us, is an accomplished fact, a past 
experience; we, by virtue of our union with Christ, “were 
raised together with Christ’? (Col. 3:1, R.V.). 

He is looking forward to the resurrection and transforma- 
tion of the body (cf.3:20,21) as a part of his “goal” pros- 
pect. ‘The original wording is unique, occurring nowhere 
else in the New Testament, and made doubly forceful: “If 
by any means I may attain unto the out-resurrection, the 
one from among the dead.” Paul invents a word to express 
his thought. Otherwise his verbiage is the same as our 
Lord’s: “They that are accounted worthy to attain unto 
that age, and the resurrection, the one from among the 


dead” (Luke 20:35). 


‘The teaching of the verse is two-fold: 

First, a selective resurrection, out from among those who 
will be left. Not out from the state of death, notice, but 
from among others who are dead. ‘The Scriptures do not 
teach a general resurrection, but the following order: 

1—‘‘Christ the First-Fruits’” (1 Cor. 15:23a). 

2—‘“They that are Christ’s”’ (1 Cor. 15:23b) or 
“The dead in Christ” (1 Thess. 4:16). 

3—‘“The rest of the dead” (Rev. 20:5).* 

Second. ‘This explains Paul’s earnest longing and en- 
deavor to “‘attain”’ the resurrection in question. Were there 
a general resurrection he would be compelled to participate. 
But he purposes not to be left out when the selective resur- 
rection occurs. 

Paul’s earnest desire to “‘attain” implies the danger and 
possibility of not attaining.t Doubtless many will be dis- 
appointed. Such a contingency is a great incentive to a 
closer walk with Him, to a present life of holy living, “the 
power of His resurrection,” to “make our calling and elec- 
tion sure,’ that so we may be “found in Him.” 

PRESSING ON EAGERLY FOR THE GOAL (12-14). “Not 
as though I had already attained” (12a). Attained what? 
The knowing of Him in intimate, transforming power— 
verse 10. Contemplating this untapped wealth of experi- 
ence, he repudiates the thought that he has already ‘‘at- 


*Tragelles, eminent Biblical scholar and critic, translates Dan. 12:2 as 
follows: ‘‘Many from among the sleepers of the dust shall awake; these 
shall be unto everlasting life; but those (the rest of the sleepers) shall 
be unto shame and everlasting contempt.” 

*“If by any means.” The Greek expression found here “is used when 
an end is proposed, but failure is presumed to be possible.” Dean Alford. 


Christ the Goal of Life 65 


tained,” or is ‘‘already perfect’? (12b), or has “apprehended”’ 
(laid hold of) that for which he was “apprehended (laid 
hold of) by Christ Jesus” (12c,13a). 


The lure of this unattained purpose and possibility—the 
purpose on Christ’s part in laying hold of him for the 
Christian life; the possibility on his part as he lays hold on 
that purpose—these have made of Paul an eager, indefatig- 
able athlete (13,14). He is intent on “one thing.” ‘“For- 
getting the behind things’ (13b)—they have lost their grip 
on him, and “stretching forward to the before things” (13c) 
—one can see the alert, bent-forward figure of the runner, 
pressing on under a great urge. 


Why does he thus “press on?” His mind is intent, his 
eye is fixed upon “the goal”; it holds all that he has come 
to count worth while—‘‘the prize of the high calling of 
God in Christ Jesus” (14). The Greek means “calling on 
high, above.” His is double progress, in an onward and 
upward race. 


EXHORTATION TO BE THUS MINDED (15). “Therefore” 
turns us back to vs. 3, “For we are’ etc. Since we are 
Christians, followers of Christ, have entered the race, ‘‘let 
us therefore be thus minded” and press on in it to gain 
the goal. 


“As many as be perfect’’ is Paul’s appeal to every be- 
liever, including himself (‘“‘let us’’) ; yet he has just denied 
being perfect. “There is no discrepancy. He is referring to 
different stages of “the race.” As each contestant in the 
Grecian games was examined and pronounced fit or “per- 
fect,’ so the Christian. Every believer, on entering the 
race, acquires a POSITION which is perfect, complete “in 
Christ” and His righteousness (9). However, in running 
the race, Our CONDITION is “not perfect”; in attainment 
we are immature, undeveloped, far short of our goal 
(10-14). 

When we believed we became endowed with His mind 
(1 Cor. 2:16), hence God can, and will, reveal to us 
wherein our mindedness falls short of being ‘‘thus minded.” 
It is God who is working in us (2:13). Only we must 
not slip back from present attainments, but fro 
tinue to carry on. We succeed in the “r 
tain a right “walk” (16). 










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66 His in Joyous Experience 


EXAMPLES TO BE IMITATED AND SHUNNED (17-19). 
The lofty inward aspirations of the runner must find expres- 
sion in an outward walk or manner of conduct that is 
wholly and worthily in keeping. ‘The pattern is Christ 
(Chap. 2). As Paul, therefore, is an imitator of Christ 
(1 Cor. 11:1) he does not hesitate to bid them “Become 
my fellow-imitators of Christ’? (17a), and ‘‘mark”’ or note 
with a view to following their example “them that so walk 
even as ye have us for an ensample” (17b). 


In contrast is the walk of many, calling forth the Apos- 
tolic warning, even with tears, “that they are the enemies 
of the Cross of Christ” (18). They have in practice denied 
its power (cf. Gal. 5:24; 6:14). Their forward look (in 
contrast to ours who look for a Saviour [20]) is only “de- 
struction”’; a finality in keeping with their present carnality, 
“who,” with no mind to pursue this heavenly race, “mind 
earthly things” (19). 

Comment 

EXPERIENCING CuristT. Merely to be a Christian should 
as little satisfy a man as to have bread without eating it or 
to possess a mine without working it. “The Welsh miners 
commonly speak of “winning” the coal, meaning the sinking 
of deeper shafts to uncover fresh layers of ore in yet more 
abundant supply. If we are His followers in saving faith, 
we “have” Him; now we must “know” Him. Know the 
“Values” there are in Him. Know Him in the power of 
His resurrection, in the fellowship of His sufferings, in 
conformity to His death. 

We hear the cry, “‘Back to Christ.” This is the way 
back. Here are the guide-posts to the real Christ, to His 
very person, presence and power. In His sufferings, death 
and resurrection is our meeting ground with “Him.” “They 
are our spiritual Garden of Fellowship with Him. ‘To thus 
get back to Christ is the beginning of a “walk with Him 
in newness of life,’’ out into a future of unfettered liberty. 

“One TuHing’’ CureistiAns. It takes courage and concen- 
tration of purpose to declare one’s self out for just “one 
thing,” but the Cause of Christ is deserving of such a 
declaration. “Seek ye first His kingdom, and His righteous- 
ness’; He will add whatever ‘“‘things” are needed. Moses 
did it, pushing many things aside for the one (Heb. 
11:24-27). Our Lord did it (John 4:34; 8:28.29). Paul 
did it (Phil. 3:13,14). D. L. Moody did it. When he 


Christ the Goal of Life 67 


heard someone say, “God has yet to show the world what 
He can do through a man wholly given up to Him,” he 
said, “I will be that man.” ‘The world knows something 
of the result; eternity will tell the rest. Some one who 
reads this will do it, to their present and everlasting satis- 
faction. Reader, are you that one? 

“GoaL, “Prize,” “Hich CaLitinc’ — “IN Curist 
Jesus.” It is a great and blessed experience to have seen 
all these “in Christ Jesus,” luring us on. We must indeed 
see them and sense them ere we are moved eagerly to set 
out after them. It is like a telescope. Looking into it we 
see a “goal’’—we want to run. Pulling out a section we 
see a goal with a “‘prize’’—we are eager to run and “attain.” 
Pulling out another section we see the goal and its prize 
involve a “high calling”—-we want to run worthily. Look- 
ing again we see, not the goal, not the prize, not even the 
high calling, but ‘Christ Jesus’; they are all in Him. We 
run as seeing Him—‘“Looking unto Jesus.’’ At the end of 
the race we’re going to meet Him, and hear Him speak in 
bestowment of the crown (2 Tim. 4:7,8; Matt. 25:21; 
et al. 

“Types” oF Curist. “Ye have us for an ensample.” 
The Greek is TUzros, type. Abel, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, 


Joseph, Moses, David, etc., were “types” of Christ, their 
lives so moulded as to picture some phase of our Lord’s 
person and work, pointing forward to Him before He came. 
But in as real a sense He has ordained us “types,” our lives 
by His indwelling Spirit pressed into the mould of His 
likeness, that now, after Christ has gone hence, men may 
be pointed to Him by our “‘walk” among them. We “ought 
to walk even as He walked” (1 John 2:6). What a re- 
sponsibility, just being a follower of Christ! 


A Summary. The secret of successfully running the 
Race may be summarily told in just three words: La 


“know” (10); to “apprehend’’ (12-14); to “exemplify” 
£475: 


4—The Christian Race: Its Finish, 3:20,21 


The verbiage of this section is in many respects remark- 
able. ‘Those who can should read it in the Greek; other- 
wise in the Revised Version. What it says is this: 


“For the citizen state (state with free citizen rights) to 
which we belong, is (exists of old) in the heavens whence 


68 His in Joyous Experience 


we are looking (away) with earnest expectation for (the 
coming of) a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will 
transform (refashion) the body of humbling we now have, 
making it of like form and nature with the body of glory 
He now has, according to power which is His to bring 
everything into subjection to Himself.” 

Paul at the outset expressed himself as “confident that 
He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it 
until the day of Jesus Christ” (1:6). He has now led us 
on to that day. The Christian life began with Christ as 
its Author; the course has been run in constant looking to 
Christ as its Inspirer; it is concluded with Christ as its 
Finisher. 

The chapter’s conclusion is a remarkable one, in that it 
summarizes the past, the present and the future of the 
Race, yet all with a forward, onward reach to that which 
lies BEFORE. 


Note 

Precious Fact (20a), a long-established fact; our citi- 
zenship, the state where we hold free citizen rights, “is” 
in Heaven, nay, it has existed from of old (so the Greek). 
Compare Matt. 25:34: “Inherit the kingdom prepared for 
you from the foundation of the world.” Again: “In My 
Father’s house are many abiding places . . . I go to pre- 
pare a place for you” (John 14:2). 

Since our life as citizens is in heaven, we have only a 
life as pilgrims here. We are just passing through. Like 
the patriarchs, we “look for a city” (same root word, 
city-zen). ‘This keeps us free from the earthly and sensual 
around us (18,19). He has given us our legal “residence” 
over there. 

PRESENT ATTITUDE (20b). “We look for,” not in the 
sense of idly gazing; the word is carefully chosen and means, 
wait with eager expectation of receiving Him who is com- 
ing. “Look for a Saviour,” in that He will then bring 
His redemptive work to completion in believers and in 
society. Note the same wording and thought in Heb. 9:28: 
“Unto them that LooK FoR Him shall He appear the sec- 
ond time apart from sin unto SALVATION.” Also 1 Cor. 
1:7: “So that ye came behind in no gift; waiting for the 
coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.’ The lexicon says it 
means “assiduously and patiently to wait for.” Why should 
any follower of Christ fail to take this attitude? 


Christ the Goal of Life 69 


PROSPECTIVE Giory (21). Salvation, not an initial step 
(Acts 16:31), nor yet a process (Phil. 2:12), but a fin- 
ished product—‘‘the redemption of our body” (Rom. 8:21) 
as necessary to our “‘adoption”’ into the heavenly state. (See 
1 Cor. 15:50-53). The body must be, and will be, “‘re- 
fashioned” from what it is now, a “body of humbling,” 
into likeness to that which He now has, a “‘body of glory.” 

This climax of Christian Experience is the complement 
and consummation of His Humiliation and Exaltation 
(2:5-11). In Humiliation He came to share our likeness 
on earth. In Exaltation He eagerly awaits our sharing His 
likeness in glory. Every Christian should be as eager and 
expectant of that day as He. 

Will He do it? The guarantee is the power that is His 
“whereby He is able even to subject all things unto Him- 
self.” 


Comment 
A ReEsuME. In resume of the race we discover three 
words that tell the whole story. (The fact that they begin 
G should forever seal the three steps in memory.) 
Starting the Race—GaAIN in Christ (3:7-9). 
Running the Race—GoAu in Christ (3:10-19). 
Finishing the Race—Gtory in Christ (3:20,21). 
heir doctrinal statement would be:_Justification, Sanc: 


tification, Glorification. 

ne can readily correlate with these the three essential, 
cardinal virtues, Faith, Love and_Hope.. Faith, reaching 
back and resting in the Cross; Love, laying hold of the liv- 
ing Christ and filling the present with power to live and 
labor for Him; Hope, reaching on before, quickened by His 
promised coming again and all related experiences. 

Wuat Is Our Hope? ‘The Church should know the 
outcome of its gospelizing efforts, that it may intelligently 
direct them. Is it the conversion of the world? If it were, 
- how freely might we expect Christ and the Apostles to refer 
to it for our encouragement. Yet we have not one single 
utterance warranting us to hope this. (Let the reader 
scrutinize his New ‘Testament in search of one instance. ) 

Rather, in the Holy Spirit’s arrangement of the canon, 
He has placed last among the Church messages those that 
have as their theme the Hope of Christ’s coming again—l1 
and 2 Thessalonians. In 1 Thessalonians, note the three 





70 As in Joyous Experience 


virtues, Faith, Love, Hope (1:3), and the fact that each 
chapter closes with teaching concerning the Hope of His 
return. Second Thessalonians features the Man of Sin, 
whose career necessitates our Lord’s personal return in 
power and glory, the only power known to Scripture for 
his destruction (2 Thess. 2:1-12). Query: What must be 
man’s state of mind and heart at the end of the age, con- 
verted or not converted, in a society that produces, fosters 
and receives the Anti-Christ just preceding Christ’s return? 


Read verses 9-12. 


Again, the General Epistles are placed last, having ref- 
erence to “the last times.” James, Peter, John exhort to 
Faith, Hope and Love. Jude warns of the breaking down 
of these virtues in apostasy and ungodliness. “Then follows 
the Revelation of Jesus Christ. Such is the revealed mind 
of the Spirit. 

A ProcGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE. A progressive revelation 
calls for, and is designed to develop, a progressive experi- 
ence. Some people seem to center their Christian living 
wholly in the past, in what Christ pip For us. While there 












Pedi, HOPE 


» 
es) 





(east 


\HOPE 
x 
._® 


_-({BUTURE) 
i 









FAITH / 
(PAST) fo. 





Fig. 
is no other place or way to begin, and while we cannot get 
beyond or away from the Cross, this is wholly unscriptural 


and leads to an unprogressive experience, a going round 
in a circle. See Figure 1. 


Christ the Goal of Life 71 


Christ and the Apostles never so taught the Cross, but 
with it presented another center of Christian Experience— 
the fact of His coming again. All the Apostles hold forth 
this expectation in their writings; they preached it from the 
very beginning (Acts 3:20; 15:16; 1 Thess. 5:1,2). This, 
held in prospect by the early Church, largely contributed 
to its zeal, enthusiasm and indomitable spirit. ‘They re- 
joiced in what He Is GoING To po. ‘They had a glorious 
future in view; they were going somewhere. 


As His Cross calls for Faith, His Coming Again calls 
for Hope. ‘This gives us two centers, a life of forward 
movement and progress, so illustrated by the resulting elipse. 


See Figure 2. 


The law of the elipse is that the sum of the distances 
from the two foci to any point on the circumference is 
always equal, a constant quantity. Let the circumference 
represent the experience of Christians from the beginning 
till now. First Century believers were constantly under 
the power and influence of both the Cross and the Coming. 
It was MEANT TO BE the same in the tenth, twelfth or 
twentieth—a constant admixture of Faith and Hope. We 
have not a normal New ‘Testament Experience if this is 
not so with us. 

Passing into solid geometry for the moment, we add the 
element of Love, relating us to the Christ now in glory, 
flooding our lives with His presence and power, filling in 
the whole gap between His first and second appearing. 
(Rom. 5:5; Eph. 3:16-19). See Figure 3. The race of 
Phil. 3 is run in the power and spur of the Love of the 
living Christ as well as the Hope of the coming Christ. 
Both are on-reaching, toward a Christ as yet not ‘‘appre- 
hended.” 

THE SCRIPTURAL ATTITUDE. If the Church today could 
have the same clear-visioned conception of a Coming Christ, 
with the consequent eager enthusiasm and devotion evinced 
by the early Church; but—what has happened that she can- 
not have it? She may; and she should. It is the Scriptural 
attitude for every age of her earthly course. 

Three considerations: 1—The Scriptures everywhere 
present the coming of Christ as a FACT. And all evangelical 
Christians believe and accept the fact. 2—The fact is a 
large part of our body of teaching. Christ and all the 


72 His in Joyous Experience 


Apostles of record TEACH and preach His return, just as 
they do His atoning death, etc. If a man fail to teach the 
atonement, he is confessedly unscriptural. If he fail to 
teach the Lord’s Return, he is equally unscriptural. 3— 
The fact is everywhere presented in the New ‘Testament 
as the INCENTIVE FOR BETTER LIVING. Upon this fact is 
based the appeal for every worthy Christian grace and duty. 
That is, it is presented as a matter possessing large SPIRITUAL 
VALUES. An experience rather than a doctrine. It is so 
in Philippians. 

The fact that the Holy Spirit found it needful to include 
the Coming of Christ in His treatise on Christian Experi- 
ence, as necessary to the rounding out of that experience in 
every believer, should be carefully considered by every 
Christian. It is not a question of-when the Lord will come, 
or whether we shall live to see the actual event; but it is . 
a question of taking the right attitude toward His conti 
for present practical and spiritual purposes. 


| Every CHRISTIAN, OF EVERY AGE OF THE CHURCH, 
HAS THE RIGHT, NAY THE DUTY, TO LOOK FOR HIS Lorp’s 
RETURN. | 

Reader, are you the eager, earnest, expectant, enthusiastic 
follower of Christ that this Hope will enable you to be? 
Have you the Experience of His Coming? Are you running 
with eye fixed on the Goal of divine revelation? 





CHAPTER IV 
CHRIST THE ALL-SUFFICIENCY OF LIFE 
The Upward Look 


Once again, in this developing panorama, we are called 
to take another view of Christ. ‘The full rounding out of 
Christian Experience comes from Christ ABove. Christ in 
Heaven, in present possession of power, sympathetically 
longing te exercise it on behalf of His people on earth. 
This He does as they avail themselves of their privileged 
position “in Him.” 

The chapter consists of concluding exhortations and assur- 
ances for those who are “in Christ Jesus.” 

Outline 

-1—Our Duty and Privilege “In the Lord,” 4:1-5. 
Exhortations to 
a—Stand Fast in the Lord (1). 

b—Be of the Same Mind in the Lord (2). 

(To this end we should Help one another) (3). 

c—Rejoice in the Lord (4). 

d—Show Consideration for All—the Lord is Near (5). 
2—His Sufficient Provision: Through Our Prayer Life, 

4:6,7. 
a—Anxious for Nothing (6a). 

b—Prayerful for Everything (6b). 

c—Thankful for Anything (6c). 

d—Result—Protection of the Peace of God (7). 
3—His Sufficient Provision: Through Our Thought Life, 

4:8,9. 
a—Thinking that Dwells on Worthy Things (8). 
b—Doing that Follows the Apostolic Example (9a). 
c—Result—Presence of the God of Peace (9b). 
4—His Sufficient Provision: Through Our Daily Necessi- 
ties, 4:10-19. 
a—Their Care of the Apostle Rejoices Him (10). 
b—His Lessons in Contentment (11,12). 
c—He can “Do All Things” in Christ’s Strengthening 
C13.)4 


73 


His in Joyous Experience 


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Christ the All-Sufficitency of Life 75 


d—They have Supplied the Need of God’s Servant 
(14-18). 
e—God will “Supply All Your Need” (19). 
5—Parting Salutations and Benedictions, 4:20-23. 
Chart: Chapter 4. See opposite page. 

Submitting the chapter to our Chart method of analysis, 
its contents yield the following as their chief thought-cur- 
rents: 

1. WHuHereE He Is. Not Within us (Chap. 1), nor 
Behind us (Chap. 2), nor yet Before us (Chap. 3), but 
ABOVE US. 

All Scripture bears abundant testimony that our Christ 
is Above: There He was seen to ascend following His resur- 
rection and forty days of earth tarrying (Acts 1:9-11). 
Stephen, in martyrdom, saw Him there (Acts 7:55,56). 
From Heaven He appeared to Saul (Acts 9:3,5,27). There 
John saw Him in vision (Rev. 1:9-18). There we are 
taught to see Him by faith (Heb. 9:24; 1 John 2:1; Rev. 
see: 

And He is Above Us, not merely spacially, but in the 
position and possession of a power He delights to call to 
our aid. For His power is fraught with love. He is brood- 
ing over us. (Cf. Matt. 23:37). In loving concern He is 
ever ‘‘a very present help” to all who will accept and appro- 
priate His gracious oversight. Not the Christ of the Past, 
nor yet of the Future, but of the now living Present, made 
known particularly through Prayer and Providence. 

2. Wuat He Is. As His power is limitless and “‘it 
pleased the Father that in Him should all fulness dwell”’ 
(Col. 1:19), there is an experience of ALL-SUFFICIENCY 
for those who are ‘in Him.” 
| Note the ‘All’s”: in prayer (6,7) ; in strength supplied 
(13); in need met (19). 

‘' Note further the explanation in each instance: “In Christ 
Jesus” (7); “In Him” (13, R.V.); “In Christ Jesus” (19, 
R.V.). He is our All-Sufficiency. 

_ 3. His Minp in Us. Resting in such infinite resources, 
relying upon One who never fails, results in a CONTENTED 
Mind “in whatsoever state” (11). Circumstances the most 
disconcerting are offset by “the peace of God which (sur)- 
passeth all understanding” keeping guard over the “heart 
and mind” (7). 


76 Hs in Joyous Experience 


We are prepared to anticipate the fact that Christian 
Experience finds its floodtide in this final chapter. It is as 
though all previous truth and experience, like successive 
waves, piling higher and higher, here burst all bounds and 
come to a climax of fulness. 


The World’s Most Wonderful Person—My Best Friend 


Today a Man is in Heaven, seated at the right hand of 
God, the supreme place of power in the universe. ‘This 
Man (no less God) is charged with exercising the pre- 
rogatives of the Godhead to the remotest ends of creation. 

That Man loves me. He knows me through and through 
and still loves me. He loves me as no other person in the 
world. He has proved His love in that He died for me. 
He gave up His life that I might live. He did it under 
the scoffs and scorns, the hisses and hatreds of men. He is 
just the same today (Heb. 13:8). He has a tender concern 
for me at this moment (Heb. 4:14-16; 7:25). He would 
do for me what no one in all the world would do. 

He would—but can He do it? 

Listen! When He had died the death for me, and risen 
again in great triumph, conscious that He had achieved the 
victory of the ages, Conqueror that He was over princi- 
palities, dominions and powers, He cried, “All authority, all 
power, is Mine in heaven and on earth—in heaven where 
I am going to exercise it, on earth where you will still be 
to need it.” 

‘Two levels, the heavenly and the earthly, are compre- 
hended in the sphere and exercise of His all-power and all- 
authority. “That Man is at God’s right hand. What does 
it mean? ‘That the most wonderful Person in the world is 
my best Friend. 

To illustrate. In our government, the man who most 
nearly approaches the “right hand of power” is the Secre- 
tary of State. Let us suppose Mr. Charles Hughes to be 
occupying that position, as he once did so worthily. Let us 
further assume that he and you grew up together in York 
State. You hear of his coming to such a post of honor 
and power. You write to congratulate him. Your note 
begins: ““My dear Charlie.” To you he is still “Charlie’’ 
and you familiarly refer to boyhood days. 

When Mr. Hughes gets your letter, he leans back in his 
chair to enjoy it. It is like a refreshing breeze in the heat 


Christ the All-Sufficiency of Life 77 


of summer. ‘To answer it he does not call his secretary. 
With his own hand he pens his reply: “My dear Jim.” You 
are still “Jim” to him. He recalls some boyhood pranks 
you had forgotten, and then adds: “‘Now, remember, I’m 
Charlie and you’re Jim. If there is anything I can do for 
you do not fail to let me know.” 

What does it not mean to one to have such a friend, one 
who is lifted to a place of exceptional power, yet is un- 
changed in his affectionate concern for you. Such, and 
much more, is your Friend in Heaven. What if you never 
call on Him; never invite Him to use His power on your 
behalf. Can’t you see how it hurts Him? Do you count 
_on His friendship and help? Are you enriched by His spe- 
cial care? It was for this, that you might have such an 
experience of Him, that Philippians 4 was put in God’s 
Book. 


1—Our Duty and Privilege “In the Lord,” 4:1-5 
Note 


“WHEREFORE (1) closely links this series of exhortations 
with the conclusion of Chapter 3; an outstanding instance 
of Scripture’s designed use of the fact and expectation of 
our Lord’s return to enjoin and urge a present life in all 
respects worthy of Him. 

“Stand fast” (1). ‘The Christian has many exhortations 
indicating much need to “stand’’ and “stand fast” (Eph. 
Betas piiecor, to21s3 Gal. Stbsi Cole 4:12) erraly vin 
Philippians he has a threefold duty: to “run” (3:13,14) ; 
to “walk” (3:17); to “stand” (4:1). 

THE HuMAN Bonn. “My brethren, dearly beloved and 
longed for, my joy and crown, my dearly beloved” (1) 
makes an added appeal, from the human side. Association 
“in the Lord” forms between us a strong, yet tender tie, 
which the Spirit makes use of beyond our ken. (With “joy 
and crown” compare “crown of rejoicing,’ used in the same 
connection, “in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at 
His coming” [1 Thess. 2:19]). 

“T ExHORT, I ExHORT” (2), tactfully urging two women 
at variance each to seek “the same mind in the Lord.” 
Their difference is not “in the Lord.” He has one mind, 
of which they must each seek to be possessed. In such effort, 
often most delicate and difficult, some other Christian, in 
position to help, should proffer aid (3). What a blessed 


78 Ai1ts in Joyous Experience 


ministry, “endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in 
the bond of peace’ (Eph. 4:3). Too frequently ‘“busy- 
bodies” serve to disrupt the Lord’s body. 

“REJOICE IN THE LORD ALWAYS; AGAIN I WILL SAY, 
Rejoice” (4). The keynote of the Epistle, and the key 
to the Christian Experience it expounds. Living “in Him” 
(1:1), we must also rejoice in Him, if we are to experi- 
ence the riches of His resources. 


Show “considerateness” (5). As a testimony “unto all 
men’’ we are to show forbearance, gentleness, yieldedness, 
in relation to others, not a strict demand of our rights in 
dealing with them. Motive urging to it: ‘““The Lord is at 
hand,” either in His soon expected coming or in His pres- 
ent nearness. Read Jas. 5:7-9. 3 
Comment 

Livinc our Lire “IN THE Lorp.”’ He is the sphere 
of our life, both inward and spiritual, and outward and 
practical, ‘The one is the root of which the other is the 
fruit. 

The Epistles mark this distinction by a discriminating use 
of names: “Christ” or ‘Christ Jesus” for the former; 
“Lord” or “Lord Jesus Christ” for the latter.* E.g. In 
Ephesians: we have our life “in Christ” (1:3,12; 2:6,10,13, 
et al). We live out our life, we serve, “in the Lord” 
(4:17, 5:8; 6:1,10, et al). 

So Philippians. As His saints, we live “in Christ Jesus” 
(1:1); in Him we glory (1:26, R.V.); have our consola- 
tion (2:1); rejoice (3:3); the prize of our high calling is 
in Him (3:14). But for practical living we are exhorted 

: “Rejoice in the Lord” (3:1); “Stand fast in the Lord” 
(4:1); “Be of the same mind in the Lord” (4:2) ; “Rejoice 
in the Lord always” (4:4). 

He who has received Christ as his life (Chap. 1); has 
taken Him as his Pattern (Chap. 2) ; finds in Him his life’s 
Goal (Chap. 3)—such an one must be careful to live his 
life “in the Lord,” yielded to Him, controlled by Him as 
his Lord and Master. 

PREPARATIONS FOR APPROPRIATING HIs PROVISIONS OF 
Grace. All this is preparatory; merely putting ourselves 





*This usage of names, as found in Romans, is treated at length in the 
author’s book, “‘His Salvation As Set Forth in the Book of Romans,” 
Chapter XI. 


Christ the All-Suffictency of Life 79 


in position to claim and enjoy the fulness of His bounty, 
the riches He has for us ‘‘in Christ Jesus.” 

There is a life that can, and does, know the peace of 
God as a constant experience (6,7); that has the sweet 
sense of His presence at all times (8,9) ; that is made suff- 
cient with divine strengthening (13); that has its every 
need supplied (19). It’s a life lived “in the Lord” (1-5). 

For example, consider the conditions of successful prayer: 
“If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear 
me’ (Ps. 66:18). Then Euodias and Syntyche, you had 
best be reconciled. Again, “If ye abide in Me, ask what 
ye will” (John 15:7). Then we must be careful to ‘‘so 
stand fast in the Lord.” Again, “If our heart condemn 
us not” (1 John 3:21) ; then our heart must be rejoicing in 
the Lord (4). Again, “Whatsoever we ask, we receive of 
Him, because we keep His commandments, and do those 
things that are pleasing in His sight” (1 John 3:22), i.e., 
“love one another” (23). Then we had best show gentle- 
ness and considerateness to others (5). 

The Two Levels: An Illustration 

Jesus says, ‘“‘All power is Mine, in Heaven (where I am), 
and on earth (where you are)—abide in Me,” 

‘The ocean diver, in pursuit of his task, leaves his native 
air, absolutely necessary to his existence, and drops down 
through fathoms of water to the bottom of the sea. “There 
he would die but for the air tube attached to his person. 
He lives by virtue of its constant, uninterrupted supply of 
air. Working on the lower level, he still ‘lives, moves and 
has his being” in the atmosphere of the upper level. 

So the Christian. He is a pilgrim, away from home, out 
of his native element (3:20). His life is in Christ, his 
Head, now in Heaven. (And, recall, the body breathes 
the air through its head.) Only as we abide in Him do we 
live. ‘Severed from Me, ye can do nothing”—just as true 
of us as of the diver. Our chief necessity is to so abide “‘in 
the Lord,” while down here in this pilgrim walk, that we 
can draw upon His all-sufficient provision for us. 


2—His Sufficient Provision: Through Our Prayer Life, 
4:6,7 
Note 
A THREE-FOLD PRESCRIPTION (6), just as explicit as 
our physician might give, compounding three elements: 


80 His in Joyous Experience 


Anxious for no-thing. 
Prayerful for every-thing. 
Thankful for any-thing. 





Let a man practice these in simple, trustful following of 
directions, and there is bound to result in his experience 


A Promisep Peace (7). “The peace of God which 
passeth knowledge (surpasseth our natural powers of under- 
standing, so unaccounted for by our circumstances, so con- 
trary to them), SHALL keep (guard over) your hearts and 
minds in Christ Jesus.” It is military language. As a 
garrison of soldiers God will have His peace take possession 
of our hearts and minds. He will throw the cordon of 
His peace about us to ward off every worrying, vexatious 
thought that would infest us. 


Comment 


Some one has quaintly said, “Care and Prayer are as 
mutually opposed as Fire and Water.” 


It is not merely that we pray. We must do so instinctive- 
ly, “in everything,” before our mind begins its worrying, 
just as the child runs to its parent with its torn dress and 
distress of heart. Be instant with the upturned eye of 
faith and trust. 

(| Nor is prayer all. Many keep praying, while they neg- 
“| lect to praise and give thanks. If we fail to thank Him 
for what He is doing, why should He do more? “In every- 
| _ thing give thanks ; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus 
‘\concerning you’ (] Thess. 5:18). 


‘TAKE THE PRESCRIPTION. Handed a prescription with 
three elements, we are not free to select two and omit one. 
The druggist compounds them and we take them ALL. Take 
this, God’s prescription, just as given, as often as you need 
it, many times a day if necessary, and you will find His 
peace resulting. 


The writer has in mind a young business woman. She 
was mentally, spiritually and physically, a wreck. She ap- 
pealed to us for relief. We gave her several Scriptures, 
this one in particular, with the above suggestions and direc- 
tions. She was soon restored. How many of God’s people 
need it. How they dishonor their “Best Friend” by not 
drawing upon Him. Distracted one, take it today. 


Christ the All-Suffictency of Life 8 | 


Curist’s CuRE FOR Care. Our Heavenly Father has 
made provision “in Christ” for a LIFE WITHOUT WORRY. 
For example, He says: 

“Casting all your care upon Him, for He careth (is 
caring) for you” (1 Pet. 5:7). 

Note the aLLt. Many try to cast some of their care on 
Him and find no relief. ‘Their pet cares they struggle with 
themselves. He knows they do not really trust, and says, 
“My child, until you cast it ALL on Me, you can keep it 
all yourself.” Our ‘‘all care’ is matched by His “‘all power.” 

Note the reason attached. How God reasons with us. 
“For He is caring for you.” Is not that enough? ‘The 
most wonderful Person in the world is caring for me. 

“Tis enough that THou dost care; 
Why should I the burden bear.” 

Some years ago a man with horse and wagon overtook a 
pedestrian carrying a pack on his back. He stopped and 
proffered a ride, which was accepted. Presently, as they 
rode along, the man observed that the one to whom he was 
giving a “‘lift”’ still carried his bundle. “Friend,” said the 
man, “put your pack down and rest yourself.” ‘Oh no,” 
was the reply, “it’s too kind of you to ask me to ride; I 
would not burden you with my bundle.” 

You smile. His was all waste effort. The horse and 
wagon both had the burden, AND HE HAD IT TOO. Foolish 
indeed ; yet no more so than the Christian who fails to cast 
his care on Him who undergirds him (Deut. 33:27). 


Other care-cure Scriptures abound. Read: 


Matt. 6:25-34: The birds—“your Heavenly Father (not 
theirs; they are only creatures) feedeth them.” The flowers 
—“shall He not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? 
Therefore take no anxious thought ... for your Heavenly 
Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. 
But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteous- 
ness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” 

Heb. 12:2—“Looking (away) unto Jesus.” So the Greek. 
Look away from the things that worry to Him in whom 
is no worry. Remember, Christ does not worry. If we 
look to Him to keep us abiding in Him as our life and our 
sphere of life, no worry can result. 

Isa. 26:3—“‘Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose 
mind is stayed on Thee; because he trusteth in Thee.” 
Not whose circumstances are right, but “whose mind is 
stayed on Him.” ‘This fits into the teaching of our Epistle. 
There’s good psychology in it as well as good theology. It 


82 His in Joyous Experience 


is giving God a chance to keep us. He will, if we will. 

Ps. 37:1-7—Read these verses and underscore the verbs 

in your Bible: “Fret not’?; ‘Trust in” (you can’t do both) ; 

“Delight in’; “Commit,” and “trust in’; “Rest in,” “Wait 

patiently for’; “Fret not.’ A little sermonette. Text, 

“Fret not,” announced at the beginning, repeated at the 

close. Now you will not fret, for you have taken the steps 

to peace. 

Friend, do you worry? God commands you not to (as 
He forbids stealing, lying, swearing, etc.). How dare you? 
You do not need to if you but enter into His provisions 


for peace. “In Me ye may have peace” (John 16:33). 


3—His Sufficient Provision: Through Our Thought Life, 
4:8,9 

Note 

In keeping with the place uniformly given in this Epistle 
to the Mind as the channel through which flows Christian 
Experience, its practical exhortations now include our 
Thought Life. Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, 
for they shall see God.” It is that experience, Himself in 
realized presence, for which provision is here made. 

1—Knowing that “As a man thinketh in his heart, so 
is he,” we are to direct our thought to the “things” here 
depicted, the lofty and worthy in life, that thus they may 
enter into our mental, moral and spiritual fiber. 2—These 
same qualities, ‘learned, received, heard and seen’”’ as al- 
ready embodied in the Apostle, we are to put into practice. 
Thoughts and ideals converted into the coin of living deeds. 
3—This doing, it is promised that “the God of peace shall 
be with you.” He will be in His temple, a realized presence. 


Comment 

We need more than peace; we need the Person—the God 
of peace. 

Our IpEAL IN CuHrisT. Paul is addressing himself to 
the Greek mind, with whom the pursuit of “virtue” was 
an habitual occupation. He would have them know that 
the Christian faith has not only the loftiest ideal of all 
that is virtuous and praiseworthy but the provision for 
realizing that ideal. “his exemplary life, all the qualities 
he has enumerated, has already found expression in the Man 
Christ Jesus. And if the Pattern life seem too remote, 
Paul is emboldened to direct them to a measurable realiza- 
tion of that model character, even in himself. 


Christ the All-Suffictency of Tite 83 


This under-study of the Christian ideal is for our en- 
couragement. If by faithful pursuit it has come to a degree 
of fulness in the Apostle’s life, it cannot be an elusive ideal. 
It is for all who are “in Christ.” As we “think on” these 
Christlike qualities of character, considering them with eager 
desire to make them our own, to really “do” them in daily 
living, He “who is working in us to will and to work” the 
life that pleases Him, will bring them to fruition in us. 


Ours is not an impersonal ideal; it is Christ. Nor yet 
a self-effort ideal; it is ‘“Christ in us.” 


4—His Sufficient Provision: Through Our Daily Necessi- 
ties, 4:10-19 
Note 

This section calls less for exposition than contemplative 
appropriation. 

Paul calls to mind how his need has proved the occa- 
sion for a personal enrichment of his life, both through the 
benefactions of the Philippians (10) and through new sup- 
plies of grace and strength from the Lord Himself (11-14). 
Grateful for their loving concern for him, he makes it the 
assurance of like blessing for them; that as they have met 
his need (14-18), God will in turn supply their every need 
(19). 

Tue AposTLe’s ExpertENCE (10-13). His need, char- 
acterized as “affliction” (14), caused their care to “flourish 
again,” take on new life as a tree in the spring. For this 
he “rejoices in the Lord” (10). 

But this is a small part of the accruing blessing. He is 
not calling attention to his “want” (lla). He has drunk 
at a fountain of divine satisfaction, independent of circum- 
stance; “For I have learned, in whatsoever state I am 
therein (R.V.) to be content” (11b). Not therewith, but 
therein. God does not ask us to be content with unsatis- 
factory conditions, when He has better for us; but im them, ~ 
in each successive stage and step of the way, He is ready 
to supply therein a contentment of mind. 

“Everywhere and in all things I am instructed’’— initiated 
into a secret, a mystery unknown to the world of restless 
humanity—‘‘to be abased and to abound; to be full and to 
be hungry; to abound and to suffer need” (12). So ex- 
hilarating is this specific experience he is emboldened to soar 


84 His in Joyous Experience 


to a universal statement: “I can do all things in Him that 
strengtheneth me” (13). Lest we misconstrue the “‘do,” it 
is better to read, in harmony with the foregoing: “I am 
strong enough for all things in Him enstrengthening me.” 
And this abundant provision, as a limitless inworking, Paul 
had learned through physical necessity ! 


THE PHILIPPIANS EXPERIENCE (14-19). Commending 
them for sharing in his necessity (14), the more as they 
were the only Church to do so (15), “sending once and 
again” (16), the Apostle assures them he is thinking less 
of himself than of them, that to them the real blessing en- 
sues—‘‘the fruit that increaseth to your account” (17). 

Here follows Paul’s assurance of sufficiency (18a), ac- 
knowledging their most recent benefaction (18b), not alone 
acceptable to him, but borne on heavenward wings, ‘‘an 
odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasing 
to God” (18c). Such is the double reference of all spir- 
itually-motived deeds. Glad surprise this: “Inasmuch as 
ye did it unto one of these . . . ye did it unto Me.” 

From this experience emerges one of the great promises 
of Scripture. Notice that it is connected with the pre- 
ceding context by an “and” (R.V.). “And my God shall 
supply every need of yours according to His riches in glory 
in Christ Jesus’ (19). 

It is not a wish, but a promise. The reasoning runs thus: 
“You have supplied all my need as God’s servant, a service 
pleasing to Him. And my God shall supply all your need.” 


Comment 


DIscIPLINING Our Desires (11,12). Some one has 
well said: ‘““True contentment depends not upon what we. 
have but upon what we would have: a tub was large enough 
for Diogenes, but a world was too little for Alexander.” 

SUFFICIENT FOR ALL THINGS (13). Christian Experi- 
ence has come to its own. ‘The servant of the Lord, having 
tested and proved Him, finds himself “strong for all things,” 
with a sufficiency that is not his own but becomes his by 
virtue of his union with One who is empowering him, pour- 
ing His wondrous energy in and through him. 

It works. He who draws upon Christ can do in Him 
what otherwise he could not do. ‘That is to say, the mys- 
tical is the practical. ‘The orchardist cultivates, irrigates, 
propagates, utilizing the vital mystical forces, and forth 


Christ the All-Suffictency of Life 85 


comes the luscious fruit. ‘The Christian who day by day 
cultivates the life “in Christ,” the instrengthening He in- 
fuses, reaps a practical output of sufficiency for all things. 
His ‘‘can’t” is turned to “can.” 


“SHALL Supply ALL Your NEED” (19). Not “may” 
but “shall”; not within certain limitations, but “according 
to His wealth in glory’—confessedly beyond compute—a 
wealth He holds at our disposal, administered in and by 
Christ Jesus, on behalf of those who are in Him. 


Here is provision beyond calculation. We can compute 
mechanical energy, in terms of horse-power ; electrical energy, 
in kilowatts; but no one can venture even ‘“‘an estimate” of 
the resources of a child of God in “His riches in glory.” 


Every believer has had, or should have had, some experi- 
ence of drawing upon this promise of every need supplied. 
Not to prove such a promise, backed by such resources, is 
to impoverish ourselves unspeakably. 


And since our need is so largely, so recurrently, that in 
the physical realm, often financial, we are convinced that 
He delights to manifest Himself in these every-day common- 
places, that He may persuade us of a perpetual care in the 
higher realm of spiritual need. 

For our encouragement to “‘taste and see that the Lord 
is good” in our own particular circumstances, whatever the 
need, from the many we select 


Two ILLUSTRATIONS. 


While holding meetings in a certain western city, we 
were invited one day to lunch in a Christian home, along 
with the mayor and his wife. After lunch, as we left the 
home for the afternoon service, having parted with the 
other guests, our hostess recited the Lord’s dealings with 
her. Said she: 

“We were in good circumstances, possessed of enough 
silverware to entertain a large company of guests, but 
through continued sickness we were reduced to nothing. 
The Church people sent us provisions at Christmas time. 
Though it was winter we were unable to maintain a fire 
in the house. 

“One day the doctor came to see the children, and turn- 
ing to me, said, ‘Mrs. , your children cannot get well 
with no fire in the house. You simply must have a fire.’ 





86 His in Joyous Experience 


“When he had gone, I went into my bedroom, threw 
myself upon my knees and poured out my heart to the 
Lord. I said, ‘Lord, You know all about our circumstances. 
You know we need a fire. Won’t You send some one with 
some coal ?’ 


“TI arose from my knees, went into the front room to 
look out, and there was a man coming up the steps with 
a sack of coal on his back.” 


What an experience that woman had of the providing 
care of her Lord. She told it with glowing face. It was 
worth all the trial she had passed through. Consider what 
the Lord did to anticipate her prayer and have the coal 
there at that moment. Knowing she would ask it, He had 
it sacked and started on its way before she asked. “Before 
they call I will answer, and while they are yet speaking, 
I will hear” (Isa. 65:24). 

In a certain training school for Christian workers a stu- 
dent found herself without even car-fare with which to 
fulfill her assignment on a certain day. She made it a 
matter of prayer, telling the Lord her need. “The day came 
when she must meet her appointment and she hadn’t the 
money. 

She could readily have borrowed it, but no, she still 
felt led to pray and trust. 

The hour came when she must don her coat and hat. 
She did so, still without the needed fare. She walked down 
the street to the intersection where she should take her car, 
still praying but without the needed relief. ‘The car was 
coming. She stepped from the curb to take it, still trusting. 
As she did so, there on the pavement lay a ten-cent piece. 
She picked it up, boarded her car and paid her fare. | 

Ten cents! How insignificant! Why bother over any- 
thing so small? But, dear friend, it is not the value of the 
‘Smoney, but of the experience; the value of knowing the 
Lord. Having trusted Him for ten cents, today, out in 
China or India, or wherever she be, she may be trusting 
Him for ten thousand dollars. She had proved Phil. 4:19. 

God is not asking us to wait for large needs, or sup- 
posedly important matters. In the small, homely needs of 


“every day He invites us to prove His all-sufficient provision. 


THE SECRET OF CONTENTMENT is not in circumstances, 
for they are shifting. It is in Him, for He changes not. 


Christ the All-Sufficitency of Life 87 


It is in the persuasion begotten by God’s Word that cannot 
fail, buttressed by the experimental knowledge that He 
has stepped in and met our need, that He does care for 
us, and will unceasingly “supply all our need,” such knowl- 
edge, such persuasion, is worth more than millions of money. 
It mints itself into the coin of a contented mind. And a 
contented mind is a priceless possession. 

“O Lord, how happy we should be, 

If we would cast our care on Thee, 

If we from self could rest; 

And feel at heart that One above, 

In perfect wisdom, perfect love, 

Is working for the best.” 

Once a poor rich man, walking over his estates, thinking 
to inspect the progress of his hired man digging a ditch 
through his land, found him singing away at his work. As 
he approached he caught the words: 

“My Father is rich in houses and lands, 
He holdeth the wealth of the world in His hands! 


Of rubies and diamonds, of silver and gold, 
His coffers are full,—He has riches untold. 


I’m the child of a King, 
The child of a King! 
With Jesus, my Saviour, 
I’m the child of a King!” 
“John,” said the rich man, “why are you singing such 
nonsense; you are a poor ditch-digger.”’ 


“Oh, but it’s true,’’ was the reply. ‘“‘God is my Father, 
and He has given me so much for which to sing and praise 
Him. Yonder is my little cottage and when my day’s work 
is done, there stands Mary at the door to greet me with a 
kiss and I sit down to a bountiful meal. Why shouldn’t I 
sing for joy?” 


Then the poor rich man unburdened his heart: ‘Yonder 
on the hill is my mansion; but they do not love me up there. 
They are oniy waiting for me to die to get my money. John, 
I wish I had what you have.” 


The Gospel of God’s dear Son offers a rich and ever- 
enriching experience of love and providing care. To know 
that love and prove that care, day by day, just where life’s 
circumstances find us, this is the privilege of the Christian. 
It is a life of joy, peace and content beyond compare. 


88 His in Joyous Experience 


5—Parting Salutations and Benedictions, 4:20-23 


Four verses: two of salutations and greetings (21,22), 
set between two benedictions, beautiful in their simplicity, 
ascribing “GLoRY unto God and our Father for ever and 
ever” (20), He who from the heavens sent His salvation 
to answer the heart needs of men, and praying that “the 
GRACE of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all” (23), 
He through whom the love and power of God unto salva- 
tion came to be ours in transforming experience. 


GLORY AND GrRacE is the divine order of manifestation. 
The God of Glory came to us in Grace, the grace that was 
in Christ Jesus, bringing salvation. 


GRACE AND G tory is the human order of experience. 
“The Lord will give grace and glory” (Ps. 84:11). He 
offers us His grace, that through its saving, sanctifying ex- 
perience, He may bring us to glory. ‘The recipients of His 
grace are the assured sharers of His glory. For this our 
Saviour prays: 

“Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given 
Me, be with Me where I am; that they may behold My 
glory, which Thou hast given Me” (John 17:24). 

Two covenant gifts “given” to the Saviour: His redeemed 
on earth, His added glory in heaven. One day, when our 
course is run, He will bring His earthly gift into His 
heavenly, ‘‘to the praise of the glory of His grace.” 


THE APPEAL 
Christ—The Four-Fold Blessing of Life 


It remains for us to summarize, in the briefest possible 
way, the message of the Spirit in the Epistle to the Philip- 
pians, thus to gather to ourselves its salient, spiritual truths, 
permitting Him to focus them more searchingly upon our 
heart-life, thus to accomplish their designed purpose of ef- 
fecting in us a truer, richer, fuller Christian Experience. 


The Spirit of Christ has given us a four-fold portrayal 
of those who are “His in Joyous Experience.”’ As we vital- 
ize each aspect of our relationship to Him and His to us, a 
full-rounded Christian character, joyous, victorious, will 
result. 


The Complete Chart pictures the “Appeal” of the Epistle, 
chapter by chapter. ‘The reader is referred to it, page 74. 


Chapter I 


THE Fact here set forth is our inner, vital union with 
Christ. We are “in Christ Jesus” and He is in us. The 
INDWELLING CHRIST gives to the Christian life a new cen- 
ter: ““To me to live is Christ.” 


THE FaiLureE that threatens is that we do not realize 
or recognize His presence in us, and continue living our 
own lives. ‘Thus, for us to live is ‘‘ourselves,” not ‘‘Christ.” 


THE ATTITUDE enjoined upon us, since He is within us, 
the fundamental fact of Christian Experience, is: 


1—SuRRENDER TO Him. Until we do, He is within 
much as a prisoner, no freedom of action or expression. 
When He suggests or seeks to prompt the pursuing of a 
course, our minds are indifferent to His or our wills rise 
in opposition. 


When we surrender to Him, a union of spirit, His and 
ours, is immediately set up. Our intellectual life is of His 
prompting. Our affectional life flows in the channels of 
His choosing. Our practical life expresses more and more 


89 


90 As in Joyous Experience 


His Self rather than our self. ‘The union strengthens and 
expands into every department of living as the surrender 
becomes the permanent, fixedly adhered to attitude of life. 


2—SUFFER FOR Him. Our attitude toward our circum- 
stances is likewise altered. We do not chafe under the in- 
justice of a Roman prison, its confinement and discomfort, 
nor smart under the strife, the jealousies and even ill-will 
of those who should honor and revere us. Having sur- 
rendered to Him who once suffered for us, it is now our 
privilege to suffer in small measure for Him. Being for 
Him, a divine alchemy turns its gall to joy (1:18,29). The 
experience of true Christians in all ages has been one of 
“rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame 


for His name” (Acts 5:41). 


ILLUSTRATION. A cross is formed by two lines, running 
in opposite directions, crossing each other. ‘The angle of 
divergence makes the cross. Let that angle be removed 
and the two become parallel or merge into one; immediately 
the cross ceases. 


Who has not seen this illustrated in child-life? The 
child is sobbing its very life out because refused something 
by the parent. ‘The reason is not the thing in question but 
the attitude of mind and heart toward it—they are set upon 
having it. ‘lactfully the parent turns the child’s attention 
to something it can have. Delighted, the sobbing ceases. 
The child is satisfied. Parent and child are at one. The 
cross has disappeared, through a simple change of attitude, 
conforming the mind and heart to one who loves and cares. 


For joyous, victorious Christian living no word is so all- 
important as ‘‘Surrender.’”’ Change the attitude toward 
“Him.” He takes the central place of control, and “things”’ 
slip into a subordinate place where they cease to vex, nay 
they serve to glorify our union with Him. With Paul we 
“therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice.” 


“T’ve found a Friend, oh, such a Friend! 
He bled, He died to save me; 

And not alone the gift of life, 
But His own self He gave me. 

Naught that I have mine own I call, 
I hold it for the Giver: 

My heart, my strength, my life, my all, 
Are His, and His forever.” 


The Appeal 91 


Chapter II 


THE FActT now before us is the historic Christ of God, 
He who came to be our Saviour by a wondrous, gracious 
humbling of Himself, thereby not alone redeeming us but 
leaving us an Example, a PATTERN Lire that for all ages 
sets forth the ideal, yes, and more, the standard of the 
Christian life. 


Tue FariLure that threatens is that we accept Him as 
Saviour but not as Pattern; that we refuse to STANDARDIZE 
our living by His, yes, our state of mind (from which life 
emanates) by His mind; that we bring Old Nature traits 
over into our New Life in Christ and label them ‘‘Chris- 
tian” when there is nothing Christian about them, measured 


by the Standard. What failure this is! 


THE ATTITUDE enjoined upon us is that we 


1—WorK OUT THE PATTERN in our lives, earnestly con- 
templating the humility of mind and of resultant life that 
were in Him, eagerly desiring the same for ourselves, only 
to realize that God has made provision for the reproducing 
of the Pattern life in us, since He is “working in us (as 
He did in Him) to will and to work His good pleasure.” 
The Pattern that would have been our despair, left to 
objective imitation, is incorporated into our lives, for inward 
realization. 


2—WitTHouT Murmourinc. ‘The same God who is 
working in us the Pattern is selecting and controlling the 
outer circumstances of life to the same high end. If through 
pride we murmur, we grieve Him and hinder His purpose. 
If humbly we yield our lives into the Potter’s hand, what 
beauty and glory of design He delights to bring out in these 
“earthen vessels.” 


To change the figure: “He shall sit as a refiner and 
purifier of silver,” continuing the refining process till He 
sees His own face reflected, the likeness of His Pattern Life 
in us. 


ILLUSTRATION. A story comes to mind of our Lord while 
still here upon earth. It may be but a legend, yet it is so 
true to what should be our experience of Him that we de- 
light to think of it as actual. 


we His in Joyous Experience 


It seems that one evening, just at the close of our Lord’s 
earthly life, having journeyed up to Jerusalem, He was 
seated with His disciples, out by the city wall. ‘TTo dispel 
the chill of the night air they had built a fire and gathered 
around it. “The Master was talking to them. 


One of the company, noting the Lord’s features and form 
silhouetted by the glare of the fire upon the wall, reached 
for an ember and traced His reflected image there upon 
the masonry. In due time the evening was spent, the fire 
died out and they retired to rest. 


‘The next morning, as people began to pass into the city, 
the mysterious silhouetted portrait attracted wondering at- 
tention. Various conjectures were offered by the crowd 
that congregated. 


A fish vender ventured the suggestion: ‘By his opened 
mouth, I can see that he is a man like myself, hawking his 
wares.” 


A shoe cobbler replied: “You are mistaken. Don’t you 
see his stooped-over shoulders. He’s a man like myself, 
working at his cobbler’s bench.” 


But a proud Pharisee in the crowd scorned their sugges- 
tions. “Why,” said he, “do you not note that high, noble 
brow. He belongs, like myself, to the cultured, educated 
class. Why—lI could almost think it a portrait of myself.” 
(Think of it, the pride of the human heart!) 


But one, standing, as he gazed felt a great longing come 
into his heart, a longing for something he saw there in the 
likeness on the wall. “Oh,” said he, “oh that one might 
be like that.” 


And, the story goes, in response to his humble heart- 
hunger the likeness of Christ leaped from the inanimate 
portrait on the wall into the very features of this man, 
till the people turned instinctively to behold the living 
Christ in the face of one whose heart had opened in humble 
longing to be like Him. 


“With longing all my heart is filled, 
That like Him I may be, 

As on the wondrous thought I dwell 
That Christ liveth in me.” 


The Appeal 93 
Chapter ITI 


THE Fact to the fore in this chapter is the future, com- 
ing Christ, held before our eyes as the inspiring Goal of 
Christian living, the incentive to present attainment of purity 
and worthiness of life in intimate fellowship with Him. 


THE Farvure that threatens is that we “rejoice” or glory 
in anything other than Christ Jesus; that we refuse to set 
down as “loss” what we previously prized as “gain,” and 
slacken our pace to an unseemly and unworthy “walk”? when 
we have been called to an all-consuming “race,”’ command- 
ing every energy of our being. 


THE ATTITUDE enjoined upon us is one of eagerly “‘press- 
ing on,” “reaching forth unto those things which are before,” 
in fine disregard of all that would side-track us or slow us 
up, spurred on by the fact: 


1—WE ARE CITIZENS OF HEAVEN. We came to be such 
by our New Birth. We are heaven-born, and heaven- 
bound. Our rights are there. Our wealth is there. Our 
expectation is from there, for: 


2—CHRIST 1s CoMING, and we ‘“‘look for” Him as our 
release from present trial, disappointment, all that now 
besets us in our present “body of humbling,” that we may 
share His likeness and fulness in the “body of His glory.” 


AN EAGERNESS begotten by the prospect prompts us to 
put a new evaluation upon the things “in Christ.” The 
ledger of life suffers a severe reversal. The things once on 
the “gain” side we gladly set down as “loss for Christ.” 
For us the problem of “worldliness” is solved. We feel the 
pulsating of an “other-worldliness.” Life is a Race and our 
“values” lie at the Goal. | 


ILLUSTRATION. In the Grecian games, as the story goes, 
a certain youth, fearing he might be outstripped by his com- 
petitor, took in his hand a golden apple. They ran; and 
he led his rival. But, as they neared the goal, watching 
he could see that gradually, but surely, he was being over- 
taken. Then he let fall the golden apple. The tempting 
sight lured the youthful runner to halt an instant to possess 
himself of the apple. A fatal aside! He had lost the race. 


94 H1s in Joyous Experience 


Intent and expectant, eye upon the goal, the prize, the 
high calling, in Christ Jesus—thus eager and forward reach- 
ing, no one shall take our crown (Rev. 3:11). 


“Awake, my soul, stretch every nerve, 
And press with vigor on; 

A heavenly race demands thy zeal, 
And an immortal crown.” 


Chapter IV 


THE Fact that finally claims us is the present, loving, 
constant care of the living Christ, victoriously exalted to 
the place of power at God’s right hand, the pledge of a 
never-failing provision for His every follower. 


THE Fai.ture that threatens is that we so far forget 
His presence there or disregard His present purposes of 
grace toward us as to fail to lay hold of His ample pro- 
visions for our need. | 


‘THE ATTITUDE enjoined upon us is one of drawing upon 
Him, as a Friend indeed, One possessed of infinite re- 
sources which He fain would place at our disposal. 


1—PRAYER AND PRAISE are the divinely appointed ap- 
proach for every believer, the key that unlocks His wealth 
of resource and floods the soul with peace ineffable. 


It is said that two angels were sent forth, each with a 
basket, the one to gather up the prayers of the saints, the 
other their praises. “The first returned with basket full to 
overflowing. ‘The saints had so much to ask of God. The 
second came back with an almost empty basket. So few 
saints remembered to give praise to God for His many 
benefits. 


2—APPROPRIATE His Promises. ‘They are so rich and 
full, couched in such superlative terms, encouraging us to 
make large claims upon His “wealth in glory,” assuring 
that He ‘‘shall supply all your need.” 


Not to appropriate such gracious promises is to rob God 
of His glory, hurt His heart of love, and impoverish our- 
selves beyond compute. 


The Appeal roa) 


ILLUSTRATION. Some years ago we read a booklet en- 
titled, “Expectation Corner.” In it is the author’s dream 
of entering the Glory. A guide shows him about the 
Father’s vast estates. At length they come to long build- 
ings and, upon inquiry, he is informed, ‘“These are the 
store-houses where the servants make provision for the needs 
of the Father’s children on the earth.” 


Looking more closely, he noticed packages lying upon 
the shelves, many of them covered with dust. ‘And what 
are these,” he asked. “Oh,” said the guide, “these were 
gotten ready for the Father’s children, to meet some special 
need in their lives, and THEY WERE NEVER CALLED FOR.” 


Thoroughly aroused, the man began to examine some 
of them. Presently he came upon one with his own name 
upon it, and the date. ‘Thinking back, he recalled the 
severe trial through which he was passing at that particular 
time, a dire emergency, and here was the Lord’s provision 
for it, ample and sufficient to meet it. ‘“‘And to think,” 
said he, “I never called for it.” 


Unclaimed provisions of His bountiful care! How many 
are up there, dear reader, meant for you, prepared specially 
to meet your need, labeled with your name, that you have 
failed to claim? 


He has anticipated your every need, for today, for to- 
morrow, for the week, the month, the year, yes, for a life- 
time. ‘Ye have not [simply] because ye ask not.” ‘‘Ask, 
and ye shall receive.” 


“Since Jesus is my friend, 
And I to Him belong, 

It matters not what foes intend, 
However fierce and strong. 


He whispers in my breast 
Sweet words of holy cheer, 

How they who seek in God their rest 
Shall ever find Him near;— 


How God hath built above 
A city fair and new, 

Where eye and heart shall see and prove 
What faith has counted true. 


96 


His in Joyous Experience 


My heart for gladness springs; 
It cannot more be sad; 

For very joy it smiles and sings,— 
Sees naught but sunshine glad. 


The sun that lights mine eyes 
Is Christ, the Lord I love; 

I sing for joy of that which lies 
Stored up for me abeve.” 


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